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COKlfRICHT DEPOSIT. 



THE BEGINNERS 

AMERICAN HISTORY 



■>^ 



;Ar-^% 



BY 



D. H. MONTGOMERY 

AUTHOR OF THE LEADING FACTS OF HISTORY SERIES 



NEW EDITION 




GINN AND COMPANY 

BOSTON • NEW YORK • CHICAGO • LONDON 
ATLANTA • DALLAS • COLUMBUS • SAN FRANCISCO 






THE LEADING FACTS OF 
HISTORY SERIES 

By D. H. Montgomery 



The Beginner's American History 
(New Edition) (Biographies of 
Eminent Americans) 

An Elementary American History 

The Leading Facts of American History 
(New Revised Edition) 

The Student's American History 
(Revised Edition) 

The Leading Facts of Englis'h History 
(Revised Edition) 

The Leading Facts of French History 



COPYRIGHT, 1892, 1899, 1902, 1915, 1920, BY 
D. H. MONTGOMERY 



ALL RIGHTS RESERVED 
220.5 



gbe atftenaum 3greg< 

GINN AND COMPANY • PRO- 
PRIETORS • BOSTON • U.S.A. 



e)C!,A570535 
JUL -3 1920 



o 



o 

_ PREFATORY NOTE 

This little book is intended by the writer as an intro- 
duction to his larger, work entitled The Leading Facts of 
American History. 

It is in no sense an abridgment of the larger history, 
but is practically an entirely new and distinct work. 

Its object is to present clearly and accurately those 
facts and principles in the lives of some of the chief 
founders and builders of America which would be of 
interest and value to pupils beginning the study of our 
history. Throughout the book great care has been 
taken to relate only such incidents and anecdotes as 
are believed to rest on unexceptionable authority. 

The words quoted literally in this book are enclosed in 
double quotation marks ; those quoted in substance only 
are enclosed in single marks ; while those attributed by 
the writer to different speakers have no marks. 

In this edition the paging has been changed, but the 
numbering of the paragraphs remains the same. 

DAVID H. MONTGOMERY. 



Ill 



CONTENTS 



PAGE 

I. Columbus i 

II. John Cabot 14 

III. Ponce de Leon, Balboa, and De Soto .... 19 

IV. Sir Walter Raleigh 22 

V. Captain John Smith 25 

VI. Captain Henry Hudson 36 

VII. Captain Myles Standish 44 

VIII. Lord Baltimore 55 

IX. Roger Williams 60 

X. King Philip 66 

XI. William Penn 76 

XII. General James Oglethorpe 84 

XIII. Benjamin Franklin 89 

XIV. George Washington 103 

XV. Daniel Boone 132 

XVI. General James Robertson and Governor John 

Sevier 140 

XVII. General George Rogers Clark 143 

XVIII. General Rufus Putnam 150 

XIX. Eli Whitney 156 

XX. Thomas Jefferson 162 

XXI. Robert Fulton 171 

XXII. General William Henry Harrison ..... 179 

XXIII. General Andrew Jackson 184 

XXIV. Professor Morse 197 

XXV. General Sam Houston 205 

XXVI. Captain Robert Gray 209 

XXVII. Captain Sutter 213 

XXVIII. Abraham Lincoln 222 

XXIX. Since the Civil War — The Great War . . . 240 

XXX. A Chapter on American Inventions 283 

Appendix — A Short List of Books of Reference ... i 

Index iii 

V 



VI CONTENTS 



LIST OF LARGE MAPS 

PAGB 

I. Map illustrating Washington's Early Life , . . facing io6 

II. The Northern States in the Revolution .... " ii6 

III. The Southern States in the Revolution .... " 124 

IV. The United States at the Close of the Revolution . . . 168 
V. The United States after the Purchase of Louisiana (1803) 169 

VI. The United States after the Purchase of Florida {1819) . 194 

VII. The United States after the Acquisition of Texas (1845) • 208 

VIII. The United States after the Acquisition of Oregon (1846) 211 
IX. The United States after the Acquisition of California and 

New Mexico (1848) 216 

X. The United States after the Gadsden Purchase (1853) . . 219 
XL The United States after the Purchase of Alaska (1867). 
See Map of North America (giving a summary of the 

territorial growth of the United States) . . . facitig 220 
XII. Map of the World showing all the Possessions of the 

United States, including Islands facing 244 

Note. — In these maps it has been thought best to give the boundaries of the 
thirteen original states as they now exist ; and to show the outlines of other states before 
they were organized and admitted. 



LIST OF FULL-PAGE ILLUSTRATIONS 

I. American Soldiers in Paris (in colors) .... Frontispiece 

II. Liberty enlightening the World 43 

III. Indian Attack on a Settlement 73 

IV. " Yankee Doodle," or The Spirit of '76 . . . . facing 102 

V. Paul Revere's Ride " 114 

VI. Battle of New Orleans " 194 

VII. Pershing's Victorious Army in Washington 277 



THE BEGINNER'S AMERICAN 

HISTORY 



I. CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS 



1. Birth 

Columbus,^ 




Columbus as a Boy 

(From the statue in the 
Museum of Fine Arts, 
Boston.) 



(1436-1506) 1 

and boyhood of Columbus.* — Christopher 
the discoverer of America, was born at 
Genoa,^ a seaport of Italy, more than four 
hundred and fifty years ago. His father 
was a wool-comber.^ Christopher did 
not care to learn that trade, but wanted 
to become a sailor. Seeing the boy's 
strong liking for the sea, his father 
sent him to a school where he could 



* The paragraph headings, in heavy type, will 
be found useful for topical reference, and, if de- 
sired, as questions ; by simply omitting these head- 
ings, the book may be used as a reader. 

Teachers -who wish a regular set of 

questio7is on each section will find them at 

the e7id of the section ; see page 14. Difficult 

words are defined or pronounced at the 

bottom of the page where they first occur ; reference 

to them will be found in the index. 

1 These enclosed dates under a name show, ex- 
cept when otherwise stated, the year of birth and 
death. 

2 Christopher Columbus (Kris'tof-er Ko-lum'bus). 

3 Genoa (Jen'o-ah) ; see map on page 15. 

4 Wool-comber : before wool can be spun into 
thread and woven into cloth, the tangled locks must 
be combed out straight and smooth; once this was 
all done by hand. 



THE BEGINNER'S AMERICAN HISTORY 



learn geography, map-drawing, and whatever else might 
help him to become, some day, commander of a vessel. 

2. Columbus becomes a sailor. — When he was fourteen 
Columbus went to sea. In those days the Mediterra- 
nean ^ Sea swarmed with war-ships and pirates. Every 
sailor, no matter if he was but a boy, had to stand ready 
to fight his way from port to port. 

In this exciting life, full of adventure and of danger, 
Columbus grew to manhood. The rough experiences 

he then had did 
much toward 
making him the 
brave, determined 
captain and ex- 
plorer '^ that he 
afterwards be- 
came. 

3. Columbus has 
a sea-fight ; he goes 
to Lisbon. — Ac- 
cording to some 
accounts, Colum- 
bus once had a 
desperate battle 
with a vessel off the coast of Portugal.^ The fight lasted, 
it is said, all day. At length both vessels were found to 
be on fire. Columbus jumped from his blazing ship into 
the sea, and catching hold of a floating oar, managed, with 
its help, to swim to the shore, about six miles away. 

1 Mediterranean (Med'i-ter-ra'ne-an), the sea between Europe and Africa; it 
is shown on the map above, but not named. 

2 Explorer : one who explores or discovers new countries. 
8 Portugal is shown on the map on page 15. 




The light parts of this map show how much of the 
world was then well known : the white crosses show 
those countries of Eastern Asia of which something 
was known. 



CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS 3 

He then went to the port of Lisbon.^ There he 
married the daughter of a famous sea captam. For a 
long time after his marriage Columbus earned his living 
partly by drawing maps, which he sold to commanders 
of vessels visiting Lisbon, and partly by making voyages 
to Africa, Iceland, and other countries. 

4. What men then knew about the world. — The maps 
which Columbus made and sold were very different from 
those we now have. At that time not half of the world 
had been discovered.^ Europe, Asia, and a small part 




This map shows how Columbus (not knowing that America lay in the way) hoped to 
reach Asia and the East Indies by sailing west. The countries not then known are 
shown covered with dark shading ; for instance, nothing was then known of Africa 
except the coast, and nothing at all of North and South America and Australia. 

of Africa were the chief countries known. The maps of 
Columbus may have shown the earth shaped like a ball ; 
but he supposed it to be much smaller than it really is. 
No one then had sailed round the globe. No one then 
knew what lands lay west of the broad Atlantic ; for this 
reason we should look in vain, on one of the maps drawn 
by Columbus, for the great continents of North and 
South America or for Australia or the Pacific Ocean. 



1 Lisbon ; see map on page 15. 



2 See map on page 2. 



4 THE BEGINNER'S AMERICAN HISTORY 

5. The plan of Columbus for reaching the Indies by sail- 
ing west. — While living in Lisbon, Columbus made up 
his mind to try to do what no other man at that time 
dared attempt, — that was to cross the Atlantic Ocean. 
He thought that, by doing so, he could get directly to 
Asia and the Indies, which, he believed, were opposite 
Portugal and Spain. If successful, he could open up a 
very profitable trade with the rich countries of the East, 
from which spices, drugs, and silk were brought to 
Europe. The people of Europe could not reach those 
countries directly by ships, because they had not then 
found their way round the southern point of Africa. 

6. Columbus tries to get help in carrying out his plans. — 
Columbus was too poor to fit out even a single ship to 
undertake such a voyage as he had planned. He asked 
the king of Portugal to furnish some money or vessels 
toward it, but he received no encouragement. At length 
he determined to go to Spain and see if he could get 
help there. 

On the southern coast of Spain there is a small port 
named Palos.^ Within sight of the village of Palos, and 
within plain sight of the ocean, there was a convent,^ — 
which is still standing, — called the Convent of Saint 
Mary. 

One morning a tall, fine-looking man, leading a little 
boy by the hand, knocked at the door of this convent 
and begged for a piece of bread and a cup of water for 
the child. The man was Columbus, — whose wife was 
now dead, — and the boy was his son. 

1 Palos (Pa'los) ; see map on page 9. 

2 Convent : a house in which a number of people live who devote themselves 
to a religious life. 



CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS 



5 



It chanced that the guardian of the convent noticed 
Columbus standing at the door. He liked his appear- 
ance, and coming up, began to talk with him, Colum- 
bus frankly told him what he was trying to do. The 
guardian of the convent listened with great interest ; 
then he gave him a letter to a friend 
who, he thought, would help him 
to lay his plans before Ferdinand 
and Isabella,^ the king 
and queen of Spain. 

7. Columbus gets help 
for his great voyage. — 
Columbus left his son 
at the convent and set 
forward on his journey, 
full of bright hopes. But 
Ferdinand and Isabella 
could not then see him ; 
and after waiting a long 
time, the traveller was 
told that he might go before a number of learned men 
and tell them about his proposed voyage across the 
Atlantic. 

After hearing what Columbus had to say, these men 
thought that it would be foolish to spend money in 
trying to reach the other side of the ocean. 

People who heard what this captain from Lisbon 
wanted to do, began to think that he had lost his 
reason ; and the boys in the streets laughed at him and 
called him crazy. Columbus waited for help seven 
years ; he then made up his mind that he would wait 

1 Ferdinand (Fer'di-nand) ; Isabella (Iz-ah-bel'ah), 




Columbus begging at the Convent 



6 THE BEGINNER'S AMERICAN HISTORY 

no longer. Just as he was about leaving Spain, Queen 
Isabella, who had always felt interested in the brave 
sailor, resolved to aid him. Two rich sea captains who 
lived in Palos also decided to take part in the voyage. 
With the assistance which Columbus now got he was 
able to fit out three small vessels. He went in the 
largest of the vessels — the 'only one which had an 
entire deck — as admiral^ or commander of the fleet. 

8. Columbus sails. — Early on Friday morning, August 
3, 1492, Columbus started from Palos to attempt to 
cross that ocean which men then called the " Sea of 
Darkness," — a name which showed how little they 
knew of it, and how much they dreaded it. 

We may be pretty sure that the guardian of the con- 
vent was one of those who watched the sailing of the 
little fleet. From the upper windows of the convent he 
could plainly see the vessels as they left the harbor of 
Palos. 

9. What happened on the first part of the voyage. — Colum- 
bus sailed first for the Canary Islands,^ because from 
there it would be a straight line, as he thought, across 
to Japan and Asia.^ He was obliged to stop at the 
Canaries from August 12 to September 6, or more than 
three weeks, in order to make a new rudder for one of 
his vessels and to alter the sails of another. 

At length all was ready, and he again set out on his 
voyage toward the west. When the vessels got so far 
out on the ocean that the sailors could no longer see 
any of the islands, they were overcome with fear. 
They made up their minds that they should never be 

1 Admiral (ad'mi-ral). 

2 Canaries (Ka-na'rez) ; see map on page 9. s See map on page 3. 



CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS 



able to get back to Palos again. They were rough men, 
used to the sea, but now they bowed down their heads 
and cried Uke children. Columbus had hard work to 
quiet their fears and to encourage them to go forward 
with the voyage which they already wanted to give up. 

10. What happened after they had been at sea many days. 
— For more than thirty days the three ships kept on 
their way toward the west. To the crew every day 
seemed a year. From 
sunrise to sunset noth- 
ing was to be seen 
but water and sky. 
At last the men be- 
gan to think that they 
were sailing on an 
ocean which had no 
end. They whispered 
among themselves 
that Columbus had 
gone mad, and that if 
they kept on with him 
in command they 
should all be lost. 

Twice, indeed, there 
was a joyful cry of 
Land ! land ! but when they got nearer they saw that 
what they had thought was land was nothing but banks 
of clouds. Then some of the sailors said. Let us go to 
the admiral and tell him that we must turn back. What 
if he will not listen to us ? asked others. Then we will 
throw him overboard, and say, when we reach Palos, 
that he fell into the sea and was drowned. 




Columbus refuses to turn back 



S THE BEGINNER'S AMERICAN HISTORY 

But when the crew went to Columbus and told him 
that they would go no further, he sternly ordered them 
to their work, declaring that, whatever might happen, 
he would not now give up the voyage. 

11. Signs of land. — The very next day such certain 
signs of land were seen that the most faint-hearted took 
courage. The men had already noticed great flocks of 
land-birds flying toward the west, as if to guide them. 
Now some of the men on one vessel saw a branch of a 
thorn-bush float by. It was plain that it had not long been 
broken off from the bush, and it was full of red berries. 

But one of the crew on the other vessel found some- 
thing better even than the thorn-branch ; for he drew 
out of the water a carved walking-stick. Every one 
saw that such a stick must have been cut and carved by 
human hands. These two signs could not be doubted. 
The men now felt sure that they were approaching the 
shore, and what was more, that there were people living 
in that strange country. 

12. Discovery of land. — That evening Columbus begged 
his crew to keep a sharp lookout, and he promised a 
velvet coat to the one who should first see land. All 
was now excitement, and no man closed his eyes in 
sleep that night. 

Columbus himself stood on a high part of his ship, 
looking steadily toward the west. About ten o'clock he 
saw a moving light ; it seemed like a torch carried in a 
man's hand. He called to a companion and asked him 
if he could see anything of the kind ; yes, he, too, plainly 
saw the moving light ; but presently it disappeared. 

Two hours after midnight a cannon was fired from 
the foremost vessel. It was the glad signal that the 



CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS 



long-looked-for land was actually in sight. There it lay 
directly ahead, about six miles away. 

Then Columbus gave the order to furl sails, and the 
three vessels came to a stop and waited for the dawn. 
When the sun rose on Friday, October 12, 1492, 
Columbus saw a beautiful island with many trees grow- 
ing on it. That was his first sight of the New World. 

13. Columbus lands on the island and names it ; who lived 
on the island. — Attended by the captains of the other 
two vessels, and by a part of their crews, Columbus set 




Map showing the direction in which Columbus sailed on his 
great voyage across the ocean. 

out in a boat for the island. When they landed, all fell 
on their knees, kissed the ground for joy, and gave 
thanks to God. Columbus named the island San Sal- 
vador ^ and took possession of it, by right of discovery, 
for the king and queen of Spain. 

He found that it was inhabited by a copper-colored 
people who spoke a language he could not understand. 
These people had never seen a ship or a white man 
before. They wore no clothing, but painted their bodies 
with bright colors. The Spaniards made them presents 
of strings of glass beads and red caps. In return they 

1 San Salvador (San Sal-va-dor') : meaning the Holy Redeemer or Saviour. 



lO 



THE BEGINNER'S AMERICAN HISTORY 



gave the Spaniards skeins of cotton yarn, tame parrots, 
and small ornaments of gold. 

After staying here a short time Columbus set sail 
toward the south, in search of more land and in the 
hope of finding out where these people got their gold. 

14. Columbus names the group of islands and their people. — 
As Columbus sailed on, he saw many islands in every 




Landing of Columbus 



direction. He thought that they must be a part of the 
Indies which he was seeking. Since he had reached 
them by coming west from Spain, he called them the 
West Indies, and to the red men who lived on them he 
gave the name of Indians. 

15. Columbus discovers two very large islands ; his vessel is 
wrecked, and he returns to Spain in another. — In the course 



CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS II 

of the next six weeks, Columbus discovered the island 
of Cuba, At first he thought that it must be Japan, 
but afterward he came to the conclusion that it was not 
an island at all, but part of the mainland of Asia. 

Next, he came to the island of Hayti,^ or San 
Domingo.^ Here his ship was wrecked. He took the 
timber of the wreck and built a fort on the shore. 
Leaving about forty of his crew in this fort, Columbus 
set sail for Palos in one of the two remaining vessels. 

16. Columbus arrives at Palos; joy of the people; how 
Ferdinand and Isabella received him. — When the vessel of 
Columbus was seen entering the harbor of Palos, the 
whole village was wild with excitement. More than 
seven months had gone by since he sailed away from 
that port, and as nothing had been heard from him, 
many supposed that the vessels and all on board were 
lost. Now that they saw their friends and neighbors 
coming back, all was joy. The bells of the churches 
rang a merry peal of welcome ; the people thronged the 
streets, shouting to each other that Columbus, the great 
navigator, had crossed the " Sea of Darkness " and had 
returned in safety. 

The king and queen were then in the city of Barce- 
lona,^ a long distance from Palos. To that city Colum- 
bus now went. He entered it on horseback, attended 
by the proudest and richest noblemen of Spain. He 
brought with him six Indians from the West Indies. 
They were gaily painted and wore bright feathers in 
their hair. Then a number of men followed, carrying 
rare birds, plants, and gold and silver ornaments, all 

1 Hayti (Ha'ti). 2 San Domingo (San Do-min'go) ; see map on page I2. 
8 Barcelona (Bar-se-lo'na) ; see map on page 9. 



12 



THE BEGINNER'S AMERICAN HISTORY 



found in the New World. These were presents for 
the king and queen. Ferdinand and Isabella received 
Columbus with great honor. When he had told them 
the story of his wonderful voyage, they sank on their 
knees and gave praise to God; all who were present 
followed their example. 

17. The last voyages of Columbus. — Columbus made 
three more voyages across the Atlantic. He discov- 
ered more islands near the coast of America, and he 
touched the coast of Central America and of South 
America, but that was all. He never set foot on any 




The light parts of this map show how much of America Columbus discovered. 
(The long island is Cuba ; the large one to the right is San Domingo.) 



part of what is now the mainland of the United States; 
and he always thought that the land he had reached 
was part of Asia. He had found a new world, but he 
did not know it; all that he knew was how to get to it 
and how to show others the way. 

18. Columbus in his old age. — The last days of this 
great man were very sorrowful. The king was disap- 
pointed because he brought back no gold to amount 
to anything. The Spanish governor of San Domingo 



CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS 1 3 

hated Columbus, and when he landed at that island on 
one of his voyages, he arrested him and sent him back 
to Spain in chains. He was at once set at liberty; but 
he could not forget the insult. He kept the chains 
hanging on the wall of his room, and asked to have 
them buried with him. 

Columbus was now an old man ; his health was broken, 
he was poor, in debt, and without a home. Once he 
wrote to the king and queen saying, " I have not a hair 
upon me that is not gray, my body is weak, and all that 
was left to me . . . has been taken away and sold, even 
to the coat which I wore." 

Not long after he had come back to Spain to stay, 
the queen died. Then Columbus felt that he had lost 
his best friend. He gave up hope and said, " I have 
done all that I could do; I leave the rest to God." 

19. His death and burial. — Columbus died full of dis- 
appointment and sorrow, — perhaps it would not be too 
much to say that he died of a broken heart. 

He was at first buried in Spain; then his body was 
taken up and carried to San Domingo, where he had 
wished to be buried. Whether it rests there to-day, or 
whether it was carried to Havana,^ deposited in the 
cathedral or great church of that city, and was finally 
carried back to Spain,^ no one can positively say. But 
wherever the grave of the great sailor may be, his 
memory will live in every heart capable of respecting 
a brave man ; for he first dared to cross the " Sea of 
Darkness," and he discovered America. 

1 Havana (Ha-van'ah) : the capital of Cuba. 

2 At the close of the war of the United States with Spain what was believed 
to be the body of Columbus was taken from its tomb, in the Cathedral of Havana^ 
and was carried back to Spain. 



14 THE BEGINNER'S AMERICAN HISTORY 

20. Summary. — In 1492 Christopher Columbus set 
sail from Spain to find a direct way across the Atlantic 
to Asia and the Indies. He did not get to Asia; but he 
did better : he discovered America. He died thinking 
that the new lands he had found were part of Asia; but 
by his daring voyage he first showed the people of 
Europe how to get to the New World. 

When and where was Columbus born ? What did he do when he 
was fourteen ? What is said about his sea-fight ? What did he do in 
Lisbon ? How much of the world was then known ? How did Colum- 
bus think he could reach Asia and the Indies ? Why did he want to 
go there ? What did he try to do in Portugal ? Why did he go to 
Spain ? Where did he first go in Spain ? How did Columbus get help 
at last? When did he sail? What happened on the first part of the 
voyage ? What happened after that ? What is said about signs of 
land ? What about the discovery of land ? What did Columbus 
name the island ? What did he find on it ? What is said of other 
islands ? What is said of the return of Columbus to Spain ? What 
about the last voyages of Columbus ? Did he ever land on any part of 
what is now the United States? What about his old age? What is 
said of his death and burial ? 



II. JOHN CABOT 1 

(Lived in England from 1472-1498) 

21. John Cabot discovers the continent of North America. — 

At the time that Columbus set out on his first voyage 
across the Atlantic, in 1492, John Cabot, an Italian 
merchant, was living in the city of Bristol,^ England. 
When the news reached that city that Columbus had 
discovered the West Indies, Cabot begged Henry the 
Seventh, king of England, to let him see if he could not 
find a shorter way to the Indies than that of Columbus. 
The king gave his consent ; and in the spring of 1 497 

1 Cabot (Cab'ot). 2 See map on page 44. 



JOHN CABOT 



15 




Map showing the city of Venice, Italy, where 

John Cabot had lived. 



John Cabot, with his son Sebastian,^ who seems to have 
been born in Bristol, sailed from that port. They headed 
their vessels toward the northwest ; by going in that 

direction they hoped 
to get to those parts 
of Asia and the Spice 
Islands which were 
known to Europe, and 
which Columbus had 
failed to reach. 

Early one bright 
morning toward the 
last of June, 1497, they saw land in the west. It was 
probably Cape Breton ^ Island, a part of Nova Scotia.^ 
John Cabot named it " The Land First Seen." Up to 
this time Columbus had dis- 
covered nothing except the 
West India Islands ; but John 
Cabot now saw the continent 
of North America. No civ- 
ilized man ^ had ever seen it 
before. There it lay, a great, 
lonely land, shaggy with for- 
ests, with not a house or a 
human being in sight. 

22. John Cabot takes possession of the country for the king 
of England. — Cabot went on shore, with his son and 




1 Sebastian (Se-bast'yan). 2 Breton (Bret'on), 

8 Nova Scotia (No'vah Sko'she-a). 

4 The Northmen : an uncivilized people of Norway and Denmark discovered 
the continent of North America about five hundred years before Cabot did. 
Nothing came of this discovery ; and when Cabot sailed, no one seems to have 
known anything about what the Northmen had done so long before. 



i6 



THE BEGINNER'S AMERICAN HISTORY 



some of his crew. In the vast, silent wilderness they 
set up a large cross. Near to it they planted two flag- 
poles, and hoisted the English flag on one, and the flag 
of Venice,^ the city where John Cabot had lived in Italy, 
on the other. Then they took possession of the land 

for Henry the Sev- 



enth. It was in 



this way that the 
English came to 
consider that the 
eastern coast of 
North America was 
their property, al- 
though they did not 
begin to make set- 
tlements here until 
nearly a hundred 
years later. 

23. John Cabot and 
his son return to Bris- 
tol. — After sailing 
about the Gulf of St. 
Lawrence without 
finding the passage 
through to Asia for which they were looking, the voy- 
agers returned to England. 

The king was so pleased with what John Cabot had dis- 
covered that he made him a handsome present ; and when 
the captain, richly dressed in silk, appeared in the street, 
the people of Bristol would "run after him like mad " and 
hurrah for the " Great Admiral," as they called him. 

1 Venice (Ven'is), 




Cabot taking Possession for England 



JOHN CABOT 17 

24. What the Cabots carried back to England from America. 

— The Cabots carried back to England some Indian 
traps for catching game and perhaps some wild turkeys, 

— an American bird the English had then never seen, 
but whose acquaintance they were not sorry to make. 
They also carried over the rib of a whale which they 
had found on the beach in Nova Scotia. 

Near where the Cabots probably lived in Bristol 
there is a famous old church.^ It was built long before 
the discovery of America, and Queen Elizabeth said 
that it was the most beautiful building of its kind in all 
England. In that church hangs the rib of a whale. It 
is believed to be the one the Cabots brought home with 
them. It reminds all who see it of that voyage in 1497 
by which England got possession of a very large part of 
the continent of North America. 

25. The second voyage of the Cabots ; how they sailed along 
the eastern shores of North America. — About a year later, 
the Cabots set out on a second voyage to the west. 
They reached the gloomy cliffs of Labrador ^ on the 
northeastern coast of America, and they passed many 
immense icebergs. They saw numbers of Indians 
dressed in the skins of wild beasts, and polar bears as 
white as snow. These bears were great swimmers, and 
would dive into the sea and come up with a large fish 
in their claws. As it did not look to the Cabots as 
if the polar bears and the icebergs would guide them 
to the warm countries of Asia and the Spice Islands, 
they turned about and went south. They sailed along 
what is now the eastern coast of the United States 
for a very long distance ; but, not finding any passage 

1 The church of St. Mary Redcliffe. 2 Labrador (Lab'ra-dor). 



i8 



THE BEGINNER'S AMERICAN HISTORY 



through to the countries they were seeking, they 
returned to England. 

The Enghsh now began to see what an immense 
extent of land they had found beyond the Atlantic. 

They could not tell, how- 
ever, whether it was a 
continent by itself or a 
part of Asia. Like every- 
body in Europe, they 
called it the New World ; 
but all that name really 
meant then was simply 
the New Lands across 
the sea. 

26. How the New World 
came to be called America. 
— Not many years after 
this the New World re- 
ceived the name by which 
we now call it. An Italian navigator whose first name was 
Amerigo ^ made a voyage to it after it had been discovered 
by Columbus and the Cabots. He wrote an account of 
what he saw, and as this was the first printed description 
of the continent, it was named from him, AMERICA. 

27. Summary. — In 1497 John Cabot and his son, 
Sebastian, from Bristol, England, discovered the mainland 
or continent of North America, and took possession of it 
for England. The next year they came over and sailed 
along the eastern coast of what is now the United States. 
An Italian whose first name was Amerigo visited the 




Map showing how much of the continent of 
North America was discovered by the 
Cabots. 



1 Amerigo (A-ma-ree'go) : his full name was Amerigo Vespucci (A-ma-ree'go 
Ves-poot'chee), or, as he wrote it in Latin, Americas Vespucius. 



PONCE DE LEON — BALBOA — DE SOTO 1 9 

New World afterward and wrote the first account of the 
mainland which was printed. For this reason the whole 
continent was named after him, AMERICA. 

Who was John Cabot ? What did he try to do ? Who sailed with 
him ? What land did they see? Had Columbus ever seen it.? What 
did Cabot do when he went on shore ? What is said of his return to 
Bristol? What did the Cabots carry back to England? What is said 
about the second voyage of the Cabots? How did the New World 
come to be called America? 



III. PONCE DE LEON,i BALBOA,2 AND 

DE SOTO 3 

(Period of Discovery, 1513-1542) 

28. The magic fountain; Ponce de Leon discovers Florida; 
Balboa discovers the Pacific Ocean. — The Indians on the 
West India Islands believed that there was a wonderful 
fountain in a land to the west of them. They said that 
if an old man should bathe in its waters, they would 
make him a boy again. Ponce de Leon, a Spanish 
soldier who was getting gray and wrinkled, set out to 
find this magic fountain, for he thought that there was 
.more fun in being a boy than in growing old. 

He did not find the fountain ; and so his hair grew 
grayer than ever and his wrinkles grew deeper. But in 
1 5 1 3 he discovered a land bright with flowers, which he 
named Florida.* He took possession of it for Spain. 

1 Ponce de Leon (Pon'thay day La-on'), or, in English, Pons de Lee'on. 
Many persons now prefer the English pronunciation of all these Spanish names. 

2 Balboa (Bal-b5'ah). 3 De Soto (Da So'to). 

* Florida : this word means flowery ; the name was given by the Spaniards 
because they discovered the country on Easter Sunday, which they call Flowery 
Easter. 



20 



THE BEGINNER'S AMERICAN HISTORY 



The same year another Spaniard, named Balboa, set 
out to explore the Isthmus of Panama.^ One day he 
climbed to "the top of a very high hill, and discovered 
that vast ocean — the greatest of all the oceans of the 
globe — which we call the Pacific. 

29. De Soto discovers the Mississippi. — Long after Balboa 
and Ponce de Leon were dead, a Spaniard named De Soto 

C» / landed in Florida 

and marched 
through the coun- 
try in search of gold 
mines. 

In the course of 
his long and weary 
wanderings, he 
came to a river more 
than a mile across. 
The Indians told 
him it was the Mis- 
sissippi, or the 
Great River. In 
discovering it, De 
Soto had found the 
largest river in North America ; he had also found his 
own grave, for he died shortly afterward, and was 
secretly buried at midnight in its muddy waters. 

30. The Spaniards build St. Augustine^; we buy Florida 
in 1819. — More than twenty years after the burial of 
De Soto, a Spanish soldier named Menendez^ went to 
Florida and built a fort on the eastern coast. This was 




De Soto's First View of the Mississippi 



1 Panama (Pan-a-mah'). 

2 St. Augustine (Sant Aw'gus-teen). 



8 Menendez (Ma-nen'deth). 



PONCE DE LEON — BALBOA -^ DE SOTO 



21 



in 1565. The fort became the centre of a settlement 
named St. Augustine. It is the oldest city built by 
white men, not only in what is now the United States, 
but in all North America. 

In 1 8 19, or more than two hundred and fifty years 
after St. Augustine was begun, Spain sold Florida to 
the United States. 




Old Spanish Gateway at St. Augustine 
(Called the " City Gate.") 

31. Summary. — Ponce de Leon discovered Florida; 
'another Spaniard, named Balboa, discovered the Pacific ; 
still another, named De Soto, discovered the Mississippi. 
In 1565 the Spaniards began to build St. Augustine in 
Florida. It is the oldest city built by white men in the 
United States or, in fact, in all North America. 



What is said about a magic fountain ? What did Ponce de Leon 
do.? What is said about Balboa.'' What is said about De Soto.' 
What did Menendez do in Florida .' What is said of St. Augustine ? 



22 



THE BEGINNER'S AMERICAN HISTORY 



IV. SIR WALTER RALEIGH i 

(1552-1618) 

32. Walter Raleigh sends two ships to America ; how the 
Indians received the Englishmen. — Although John Cabot 
discovered the continent of North America in 1497 and 

took possession of the 
land for the English,^ yet 
the English themselves 
did not try to settle here 
until nearly a hundred 
years later. 

Then (1584) a young 
man named Walter 
Raleigh, who was a great 
favorite of Queen Eliza- 
beth's, sent out two ships 
to America. The cap- 
tains of these vessels 
landed on Roanoke* 
Island, on the coast of what is now the state of North 
Carolina. They found the island covered with tall red 
cedars and with vines thick with clusters of wild grapes. 
The Indians called this place the "Good Land." They 
were pleased to see the Englishmen, and they invited 
them to a great feast of roast turkey, venison,* melons, 
and nuts. 

33. Queen Elizabeth names the country Virginia ; first 
settlers ; what they sent Walter Raleigh. — When the two 




Sir Walter Raleigh 



1 Raleigh (Raw'li). 2 See page i6. 

* Venison (ven'i-zon or ven'zon) ; deer meat. 



3 Roanoke (Ro-a-nok'). 



SIR WALTER RALEIGH 



23 



captains returned to England, Queen Elizabeth — the 
''Virgin Queen," as she was called — was delighted 
with what she heard of the "Good Land," She named 
it Virginia in honor of herself. She also gave Raleigh 
a title of honor. From that time he was no longer 
called plain Walter Raleigh or Mr. Raleigh, but Sir 
Walter Raleigh. 

Sir Walter now (1585) shipped over emigrants^ to 
settle in Virginia. They sent back to him, as a present, 
two famous American plants — one called Tobacco, the 
other the Potato. The queen had 
given Sir Walter a fine estate in 
Ireland, and he set out both the 
plants in his garden. The tobacco 
plant did not grow very well 
there, but the potato did ; and 
after a time thousands of farmers 
began to raise that vegetable, not 
only in Ireland, but in England 
too. As far back as that time 
— or more than three hundred 
years ago — America was beginning to feed the people 
of the Old World. 

34. The Virginia settlement destroyed. — Sir Walter spent 
immense sums of money on his settlement in Virginia, 
but it did not succeed. One of the settlers, named Dare, 
had a daughter born there. He named her Virginia 
Dare. She was the first English child born in America. 
But the little girl, with her father and mother and all 
the rest of the settlers, disappeared. It is supposed that 




^ifw Roanokea 

V-i ■ Island ^ 

-e^^-^l^ \ 1584 J 

Croatoan 11 




1 Emigrants : persons who leave one country to go and settle in anothe:. 
Thousands of emigrants from Europe now land iii this country every month. 



24 



THE BEGINNER'S AMERICATST HISTORY 



they were killed by the Indians or that they wandered 
away and starved to death ; but all that we really know 
is that not one of them was ever seen again. 

35. Last days of Sir Walter Raleigh. — After Queen 
Elizabeth died, King James the First became ruler of 
England. He accused Sir Walter of trying to take 
away his crown so as to make some one else ruler over 
the country. Sir Walter was sent to prison and kept 

there for many years. 
At last King James 
released him in order 
to send him to South 
America to get gold. 
When Sir Walter 
returned to London 
without any gold, the 
greedy king accused 
him of having dis- 
obeyed him because 
he had fought with 
some Spaniards. 
Raleigh was condemned to death and was beheaded. 

But Sir Walter's attempt to settle Virginia led other 
EngHshmen to try. Before he died they built a town, 
called Jamestown, on the coast. We shall presently read 
the history of that town. The English held Virginia 
from that time until it became part of the United States. 

36. Summary. — Sir Walter Raleigh sent over men 
from England to explore the coast of America. Queen 
Elizabeth named the country they visited Virginia. 
Raleigh then shipped emigrants over to make a settle- 
ment. These emigrants sent him two American plants, 




The First Pipe of Tobacco 
(Raleigh's servant thought his master was on fire.) 



CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH 2$ 

Tobacco and the Potato; in that way the people of Great 
Britain and Ireland came to like both. Sir Walter's 
settlement failed; but his example led other English- 
men to try to make one. Before he was beheaded they 
had succeeded. 



What is said about Walter Raleigh ? What is said about the 
Indians ? What name did Queen Elizabeth give to the country ? 
What did she do for Walter Raleigh ? What did Sir Walter then do ? 
What American plants did the emigrants send him ? What did he do 
with those plants ? What happened to the Virginia settlement ? What 
is said of the last days of Sir Walter Raleigh? Did Sir Walter's 
attempt to settle Virginia do any good ? 



V. CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH 

(1579-1631) 

37. New and successful attempt to make a settlement in 
Virginia; Captain John Smith. — One of the leaders in 
the new expedition sent out to make a settlement 
in Virginia, while Raleigh was in prison, was Captain 
John Smith. He began life as a clerk in England. 
Not liking his work, he ran away and turned soldier. 
After many strange adventures, he was captured by the 
Turks and sold as a slave. His master, who was a Turk, 
riveted a heavy iron collar around his neck and set him 
to thrashing grain with a big wooden bat like a ball-club. 
One day the Turk rode up and struck his slave with his 
riding-whip. This was more than Smith could bear; he 
rushed at his master, and with one blow of his bat 
knocked his brains out. He then mounted the dead 
man's horse and escaped. After a time he got back to 
England ; but as England seemed a little dull to Captain 



26 



THE BEGINNER'S AMERICAN HISTORY 



Smith, he resolved to join some emigrants who were 
going to Virginia. 

38. What happened to Captain Smith on the voyage; the 
landing at Jamestown; what the settlers wanted to do; Smith's 
plan. — On the way to America, Smith was accused of 

plotting to murder the 
chief men among the 
emigrants so that he 
might make himself 
"King of Virginia." 
The accusation was 
false ; but he was put 
in irons and kept a pris- 
oner for the rest of the 
voyage. 

In the spring of 1607 
the emigrants reached 
Chesapeake ^ Bay, and 
sailed up a river which 
they named the James 
in honor of King James the First, of England; when 
they landed they named the settlement Jamestown for 
the same reason. Here they built a log fort, and 
placed three or four small cannon on its walls. Most 
of the men who settled Jamestown came hoping to 
find mines of gold in Virginia, or else a way through 
to the Pacific Ocean and to the Indies,^ which they 
thought could not be very far away. But Captain Smith 

1 Chesapeake (Ches'a-peek). 

2 These men (in case they failed to find gold in Virginia) were anxious to dis- 
cover a short direct route to the East Indies, in order to open trade for the spices, 
drugs, silks, and pearls which were brought from those " rich countries of the 
East " to Europe. See Columbus, page 4, and Cabot, page 14. 




Captain John Smith 



CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH 



27 



wanted to help his countrymen to make homes here for 
themselves and their children. 

39. Smith's trial and what came of it; how the settlers 
lived; the first English church; sickness; attempted desertion. 
— As soon as Captain Smith landed, he demanded to 
be tried by a jury^ of twelve men. The trial took place. 
It was the first English court and the first English 
jury that ever sat in America. The captain proved 
his innocence and was set free. His chief accuser 
was condemned to pay him a large sum of money for 
damages. Smith generously gave this money to help 
the settlement. 

As the weather was warm, the emigrants did not 
begin building log cabins at once, but slept on the 
ground, sheltered by boughs of trees. For a church 
they had an old tent, in which they met on Sunday. 
They, were all members of the Church of England 
(or the Episcopal Church), and that tent was the first 
place of worship, that we know of, 
which was opened by Englishmen 
in America. 

When the hot weather came, 
many fell sick. Soon the whole 
settlement was like a hospital. 
Sometimes three or four would 
die in one night. Captain Smith, 
though not well himself, did everything he could for 
those who needed his help. 

When the sickness was over, some of the settlers 




1 Jury: a number of men, generally twelve, selected according to h\v to try a 
case in a court of law; in criminal cases they declare the person accused to be 
either guilty or not guilty. 



28 THE BEGINNER'S AMERICAN HISTORY 

were so discontented that they determined to seize the 
only vessel there was at Jamestown and to go back to 
England. Captain Smith turned the cannon of the fort 
against them. The deserters saw that if they tried to 
leave the harbor he would knock their vessel to pieces; 
so they came back. One of the leaders of these men 
was tried and shot; the other was sent to England in 
disgrace. 

40 The Indians of Virginia. — When the Indians of 
America first met the white men, they were very 
friendly to them; but this did not last long, because 
often the whites treated the Indians very badly; in fact, 
the Spaniards made slaves of them and whipped many 
of them to death. But these were generally the Indians 
of the West Indies and South "America; some of the 
tribes of North America, especially those in what is 
now New York State, were terribly fierce and a match 
for the Spaniards in cruelty. 

The Indians at the east did not build cities, but lived 
in small villages. These villages were made up of huts, 
covered with the bark of trees. Such huts were called 
wigwams. The women did nearly all the work, such as 
building the wigwams and hoeing corn and tobacco. 
The men hunted and made war. Instead of guns, the 
Indians had bows and arrows. With these they could 
bring down a deer or a squirrel quite as well as a white 
man could now with a rifle. They had no iron, but made 
hatchets and knives out of sharp, flat stones. They never 
built roads, for they had no wagons, and at the east they 
did not use horses ; but they could find their way with 
ease through the thickest forest. When they came to 
a river they swam across it, so they had no need of 



CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH 



29 



bridges. For boats they made canoes of birch bark. 
These canoes were almost as light as paper, yet they 
were very strong and handsome, and they 

floated on the river 
Like a yellow leaf in autumn, 
Like a yellow water-lily.^ 

In them they could go hundreds of miles quickly and 
silently. So every river and stream, throughout North 
America, became a 
roadway to the In- 
dian. 

41. Captain Smith 
goes in search of the 
Pacific ; he is captured 
by Indians. — After 
that first long, hot 
summer was over, 
some of the settlers 
wished to explore the 
country and see if 
they could not find a 
short way through to 
the Pacific Ocean. ^ 
Captain Smith led the expedition. The Indians attacked 
them, killed three of the men, and took the captain 
prisoner. To amuse the Indians, Smith showed them 
his pocket compass. When the savages saw that the 
needle always pointed toward the north, they were 
greatly astonished ; and, instead of killing their pris- 
oner, they decided to take him to their chief. This 

1 Longfellow's Hiawatha (Hiawatha's Sailing). 2 See page 26. 




Captain John Smith before Powhatan 



30 



THE BEGINNER'S AMERICAN HISTORY 




Pocket Compass 



chief was named Powhatan.^ He was a tall, grim-look- 
ing old man, and he hated the settlers at Jamestown, 

because he believed that they 
had come to steal the land 
from the Indians. 

42. Smith's life is saved by 
Pocahontas^ ; her marriage to 
John Rolfe.^ — Smith was 
dragged into the chief's wig- 
wam ; his head was laid on a 
large, flat stone, and a tall 
savage with a big club stood 
ready to dash out his brains. Just as Powhatan was 
about to cry "Strike !" his daughter Pocahontas, a girl 
of twelve or thirteen, ran up, and, putting her arms 
around the prisoner's head, laid her own head on his — 
now let the Indian with his uplifted club strike, if he dare.* 
Instead of being angry with his daughter, Powhatan 
promised her that he would spare Smith's life. When 
an Indian made such a promise as that he kept it, so 
the captain knew that his head was safe. Powhatan 
released his prisoner and soon sent him back to James- 
town, and Pocahontas, followed by a number of Indians, 
carried to the settlers presents of corn and venison. 

Some years after this the Indian maiden married 
John Rolfe, an Englishman who had come to Virginia. 
They went to London, and Pocahontas died not far 
from that city. She left a son ; and from that son 
came some noted Virginians. One of them was John 
Randolph. He was a famous man in his day, and he 

1 Powhatan (Pow-ha-tan'). 2 Pocahontas (Po-ka-hon'tas). 

8 Rolfe (Rolf). 4 On Pocahontas, see List of Books in Appendix. 



CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH 



31 



always spoke with pride of the Indian princess, as he 
called her. 

43. Captain Smith is made governor of Jamestown ; the 
gold-diggers ; " Corn, or your life 1 " — More emigrants came 
over from England, and Captain Smith was now made 
governor of Jamestown Some of the emigrants found 
some glittering earth which they thought was gold. 
Soon nearly every one was hard at work digging it. 
Smith laughed at them ; but they insisted on loading a 
ship with the worthless stuff and sending it to London. 
That was the last that was heard of it. 

The people had wasted their time digging this shining 
dirt when they should 
have been hoeing their 
gardens. Soon they 
began to be in great 
want of food. The cap- 
tain started off with a 
party of men to buy corn 
of the Indians. The 
Indians contrived a cun- 
ning plot to kill the 
whole party. Smith 
luckily found it out ; 
seizing the chief by the 
hair, he pressed the muzzle of a pistol against his heart 
and gave him his choice, — " Corn, or your life! " He 
got the corn, and plenty of it. 

44. •• He who will not work shall not eat." — Captain 
Smith then set part of the men to planting corn, so that 
they might raise what they needed. The rest 01 the 
settlers he took with him into the woods to chop down 




Corn, or your Life I" 



32 THE BEGINNER'S AMERICAN HISTORY 

trees and saw them into boards to send to England, 
Many tried to escape from this labor ; but Smith said, 
Men who are able to dig for gold are able to chop ; then 
he made this rule : " He who will not work shall not 
eat." Rather than lose his dinner, the laziest man now 
took his axe and set off for the woods. 

45. Captain Smith's cold-water cure. — But, though the 
choppers worked, they grumbled. They liked to see the 
chips fly and to hear the great trees "thunder as they 
fell "; but the axe-handles raised blisters on their fingers. 
These blisters made the men swear, so that commonly 
one would hear "a loud oath " at every third stroke of 
the axe. Smith said the swearing must be stopped. 
He had each man's oaths numbered. When the day's 
work was done, every offender was called up ; his oaths 
were counted ; then he was told to hold up his right 
hand, and a can of cold water was poured down his 
sleeve for each oath. This new style of water-cure did 
wonders ; in a short time hardly an oath would be heard 
in a whole week ; it was just chop, chop, chop ; and the 
madder the men got, the more the chips would fly.^ 

46. Captain Smith meets with an accident and goes back to 
England ; his return to America ; his death. — Captain Smith 
had not been governor very long when he met with a 
terrible accident. He was out in a boat, and a bag of 
gunpowder he had with him exploded. He was so 
badly hurt that he had to go back to England to get 
proper treatment for his wounds. 

He returned to America a number of years later, 
explored the coast north of Virginia, and gave it the 

1 Smith tells this story himself in his General History of Virginia: see 
Arber's Edition of Smith, Complete Works ^ page 439. 



CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH 



33 



name of New England ; but he never went back to 
Jamestown again. He died in London, and was buried 
in a famous old church in that city.^ 

47. What Captain Smith did for Virginia. — Captain John 
Smith was in Virginia less than three years ; yet in that 
short time he did a great deal. First, he saved the 
settlers from starving, by making the Indians sell them 
corn. Next, by his courage, he saved them from the 
attacks of the savages. 
Lastly, he taught them how 
to work. Had it not been 
for him, the people of 
Jamestown would probably 
have lost all heart and gone 
back to England. He in- 
sisted on their staying ; 
and so, through him, the 
English got their first real 
foothold in America. But 
this was not all ; he wrote 
two books on Virginia, de- 
scribing the soil, the trees, 

the animals, and the Indians. He also made some excel- 
lent maps of Virginia and of New England. These books- 
and maps taught the English people many things about 
this country, and were a great help to those who wished 
to emigrate to America. For these reasons, Captain Smith 
has rightfully been called the "Father of Virginia." 

48. Negro slaves sent to Virginia ; tobacco. — About ten 
years after Captain Smith left Jamestown, the com- 
mander of a Dutch ship brought a number of negro 




A Settler's Log Cabin 



1 The church of St. Sepulchre : it is not very far from St. Paul's Cathedral. 



34 THE BEGINNER'S AMERICAN HISTORY 

slaves to Virginia (1619) and sold them to the settlers. 
That was the beginning of slavery in this country. Later, 
when other English settlements had been made, they 
bought slaves ; and so, after a time, every settlement . 
north as well as south owned more or less negroes. The 
people of Virginia employed most of their slaves in 
raising tobacco. They sold this in England ; and, as it 
generally brought a good price, many of the planters ^ 
became quite rich. 

49. Bacon's war against Governor Berkeley^; Jamestown 
burned. — Long after Captain Smith was in his grave, 
Sir William Berkeley was made governor of Virginia 
by the king of England, Governor Berkeley treated 
the people very badly. At last a young planter named 
Bacon raised a small army and marched against the 
governor, who was in Jamestown. The governor, find- 
ing that he had few friends to fight for him, made haste 
to get out of the place. Bacon then entered it with his 
men ; but as he knew that, if necessary, the king would 
send soldiers from England to aid the governor in get- 
ting it back, he set fire to the place and burned it. It 
was never built up again, and only a crumbling church 
tower and a few gravestones can now be seen where 
Jamestown once stood. Those ruins mark the first 
English town settled in America. 

50. What happened later in Virginia ; the Revolution ; 
Washington ; four presidents. — But though Jamestown 
was destroyed, Virginia kept growing in strength and 
wealth. What was better still, the country grew in 
the number of its great men. The king of England 

1 Planter : a person who owns a plantation or large farm at the South ; it is 
cultivated by laborers living on it; once these laborers were generally negro 
slaves. 2 Berkeley (Berk'li). 



CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH 35 

continued to rule America until, in 1776, many of the 
people of Virginia demanded that independence should 
be declared. The great war of the Revolution over- 
threw the king's power and made us free. The mili- 
tary leader of that war was a Virginia planter named 
George Washington. 

After we had gained the victory and peace was made, 
we chose presidents to govern the country. Four out of 
five of our first presidents, beginning with Washington, 
came from Virginia, For this reason that state has 
sometimes been called the " Mother of Presidents." 

51. Summary. — In 1607 Captain John Smith, with a 
number of other emigrants, made the first lasting settle- 
ment built by Englishmen in America. Through Cap- 
tain Smith's energy and courage, Jamestown, Virginia, 
took firm root. Virginia was the first state to demand 
the independence of America, and Washington, who was 
a Virginian, led the war of the Revolution by which that 
independence was gained. 

What can you tell about Captain John Smith before he went to 
Virginia? What happened to him on his way to Virginia? What is 
said about the landing of the settlers in Virginia? What did they want 
to do ? What did Captain Smith want to do ? What is said about 
Captain Smfth's trial ? What is said about the church in Jamestown ? 
what happened to the settlers? What did some of them try to do? 
Who stopped them ? Tell what you can about the Indians. What 
kind of houses did they live in ? Did they have guns ? Did they have 
iron hatchets and knives? Did they have horses and wagons ? What 
kind of boats did they have ? What happened to Captain Smith when 
he went in search of the Pacific ? What did Pocahontas do ? What is 
said about her afterward ? What about the gold-diggers ? How did 
Captain Smith get corn ? What did he make the settlers do ? What 
is said about Captain Smith's cold-water cure ? Why did Captain 
Smith go back to England ? What three things did he do for Virginia ? 
What is said about his books and maps ? What is said of negro 
slaves ? What is said about tobacco ? What is said about Governor 
Berkeley and Mr. ^acon ? What happened to Jamestown ? What did 
the war of the Revolution do? Who was its great military leader? 
Why is Virginia sometimes called the " Mother of Presidents " ? 



36 



THE BEGINNER'S AMERICAN HISTORY 



VI. CAPTAIN HENRY HUDSON 

(Voyages from 1607 to 1611) 

52. Captain Hudson tries to find a northwest passage to 
China and the Indies. — When Captain John Smith sailed 
for Virginia, he left in London a friend, named Henry 

Hudson, who had the 
name of being one of 
the best sea-captains 
in England. 

While Smith was in 
Jamestown, a com- 
pany of London mer- 
chants sent out 
Captain Hudson to 
try to discover a pas- 
sage to China and the 
Indies.^ When he 
left England, he sailed 
to the northwest, 
hoping that he could 
find a way open to the Pacific across the North Pole or 
not far below it.^ 

He knew that if he found such a passage, it would be 
much shorter than a voyage round the globe further 
south ; because, as any one can see, it is not nearly so 
far round the top of an apple, near the stem, as it is 
round the middle. 

1 On the Indies and other countries of the far East, see page 4, and Note 2 
on page 26. 

2 See John Cabot's attempt to find a northwest passage to Asia, on page 15. 




Map showing how Captain Hudson hoped to reach 
Asia by sailing northwest from England. 



CAPTAIN HENRY HUDSON 37 

Hudson could not find the passage he was looking 
for ; but he saw mountains of ice, and he went nearer 
to the North Pole than any one had ever done 
before. 

53. The Dutch hire Captain Hudson ; he sails for America. 
— The Dutch people in Holland had heard of Hudson's 
voyage, and a company of merchants of that country 
hired the brave sailor to see if he could find a passage 
to Asia by sailing to the northeast. 

He set out from the port of Amsterdam,^ in 1609, 
in a vessel named the Half Moon. After he had gone 
quite a long distance, the sailors got so tired of seeing 
nothing but fog and ice that they refused to go any 
further. 

Then Captain Hudson turned his ship about and 
sailed for the coast of North America. He did that 
because his friend. Captain Smith of Virginia, had sent 
him a letter, with a map, which made him think that 
he could find such a passage as he wanted north of 
Chesapeake Bay. 

54. Captain Hudson reaches America and finds the "Great 
River." — Hudson got to Chesapeake Bay ; but the 
weather was so stormy that he thought it would not be 
safe to enter it. He therefore sailed northward along 
the coast. In September, 1609, he entered a beautiful 
bay, formed by the spreading out of a noble river. At 
that point the stream is more than a mile wide, and he 
called it the *' Great River." On the eastern side of 
it, not far from its mouth, there is a long, narrow island : 
the Indians of that day called it Manhattan Island.^ 

1 See map on page 44. 

2 Manhattan (Man-hat'tan). 



38 



THE BEGINNER'S AMERICAN HISTORY 



( Here AlbanY-opw < 
"inmj^ Stands) 



/p?t»Poi,1>t? 



rN 



lew 

sterds 



1626 



'i^?. 



ity) 



55. The tides in the "Great River"; 
Captain Hudson begins to sail up the 
stream. — One of the remarkable things 
about the river which Hudson had 
discovered is that it has hardly any 
current, and the tide from the ocean 
moves up for more than a hundred 
and fifty miles. If no fresh water 
ran in from the hills, still the sea 
would fill the channel for a long dis- 
tance, and so make a kind of salt- 
water river of it. Hudson noticed 
how salt it was, and that, perhaps, 
made him think that he had at last 
actually found a passage which would 
lead him through from the Atlantic 
to the Pacific. He was delighted 
with all he saw, and said, " This is 
as beautiful a land as one can tread 
upon." Soon he began to sail up the 
stream, wondering what he should see 
and whether he should come out on an 
ocean which would take him to Asia. 

56. Hudson's voyage on the *' Great 
River " ; his feast with the Indians. — At 
first he drifted along, carried by the 
tide, under the shadow of a great 
natural wall of rock. That wall, 
which we now call the Palisades,^ is 

1 Palisades: this name is given to the wall of rock 
on the Hudson, because, when seen near by, it some- 
what resembles a palisade, or high fence made of stakes 
or posts set close together, upright in the ground. 



CAPTAIN HENRY HUDSON 



39 



from four hundred to six hundred feet high ; it extends for 
nearly twenty miles along the western shore of the river. 

Then, some distance further up, Captain Hudson came 
to a place where the river winds its way through great 
forest-covered hills, called the Highlands. At the end 
of the fifth day he came to a point on the eastern bank 
above the Highlands, where the city of Hudson now 
stands. Here an old Indian chief invited him to go 
ashore. Hudson had found the Indians, as he says, 
"very loving"; so he thought he would accept the 
invitation. The savages made a great feast for the 
captain. They 
gave him not only 
roast pigeons, but 
also a roast dog, 
which they cooked 
specially for him: 
they wanted he 
should have the 
very best. 

These Indians 
had never seen a 
white man before. 
They thought that the English captain, in his bright 
scarlet coat trimmed with gold lace, had come down 
from the sky to visit them. What puzzled them, how- 
ever, was that he had such a pale face instead of having 
a red one like themselves. 

At the end of the feast Hudson rose to go, but 
the Indians begged him to stay all night. Then 
one of them got up, gathered all the arrows, broke 
them to pieces, and threw them into the fire, in order 




Captain Hudson on the Great River 



40 THE BEGINNER'S AMERICAN HISTORY 

to show the captain that he need not be afraid to stay 
with them. 

57. Captain Hudson reaches the end of his voyage and turns 
back; trouble with the Indians. — But Captain Hudson made 
up his mind that he must now go on with his voyage. 
He went back to his ship and kept on up the river until 
he had reached a point about a hundred and fifty miles 
from its mouth. Here the city of Albany now stands. 
He found that the water was growing shallow, and he 
feared that if the Half Moon went further she would 
get aground. It was clear to him, too, that wherever 
the river might lead, he was not likely to find it a short 
way through to China. 

On the way down stream a thievish Indian, who had 
come out in a canoe, managed to steal something from 
the ship. One of the crew chanced to see the Indian 
as he was slyly slipping off; picking up a gun he fired 
and killed him. After that Hudson's men had several 
fights with the Indians. 

58. Hudson returns to Europe; the "Great River" is called 
by his name; his death. — Early in October the captain 
set sail for Europe. Ever since that time the beautiful 
river which he explored has been called the Hudson, in 
his honor. 

The next year Captain Hudson made another voyage, 
and entered that immense bay in the northern part of 
America which we now know as Hudson Bay. There 
he got into trouble with his men. Some of them seized 
him and set him adrift, with a few others, in an open 
boat. Nothing more was ever heard of the brave Eng- 
lish sailor. The bay which bears his name is probably 
his grave. 



CAPTAIN HENRY HUDSON 4I 

59. The Dutch take possession of the land on the Hudson 
and call it New Netherland; how New Netherland became New 
York. — As soon as the Dutch in Holland heard that 
Captain Hudson had found a country where the Indians 
had plenty of rich furs to sell, they sent out people 
to trade with them. Holland is sometimes called the 
Netherlands; that is, the Low Lands. When the Dutch 
took possession of the country on the Hudson (16 14), 
they gave it the name of New Netherland,^ for the same 
reason that the English called one part of their posses- 
sions in America New England. In the course of a few 
years the Dutch built (161 5) a fort and some log cabins 
on the lower end of Manhattan Island. After a time 
they named this little settlement New Amsterdam, in 
remembrance of the port of Amsterdam in Holland from 
which Hudson sailed. 

After the Dutch had held the country of New Nether- 
land about fifty years, the English (1664) seized it. They 
changed its name to New York, in honor of the Duke of 
York, who was brother to the king. The English also 
changed the name of New Amsterdam to that of New 
York City. 

60. The New York "Sons of Liberty" in the Revolution; 
what Henry Hudson would say of the city now. — More than 
a hundred years after this the young men of New York, 
the "Sons of Liberty," as they called themselves, made 
ready with the " Sons of Liberty " in other states to do 
their full part, under the lead of General Washington, in 
the great war of the Revolution, — that war by which we 
gained our freedom from the rule of the king of England, 
and became the United States of America. 

1 New Netherland : this is often incorrectly printed New Netherlands. 



/ 

42 THE BEGINNER'S AMERICAN HISTORY 

The silent harbor where Henry Hudson saw a few 
Indian canoes is now one of the busiest seaports in 
the world. The great statue of Liberty stands at its 
entrance.^ To it fleets of ships and steamers are con- 
stantly coming from all parts of the globe ; from it 
other fleets of vessels are constantly going. If Captain 
Hudson could see the river which bears his name, and 
Manhattan Island now covered with miles of buildings 
which make the largest and wealthiest city in America, 
he would say : There is no need of my looking any 
further for the riches of China and the Indies, for I 
have found them here. 

61. Summary. — In 1609 Henry Hudson, an English 
sea-captain, then in the employ of the Dutch, discovered 
the river now called by his name. The Dutch took 
possession of the country on the river, named it New 
Netherland, and built a small settlement on Manhattan 
Island. Many years later the English seized the country 
and named it New York. The settlement on Manhattan 
Island then became New York City. It is now the 
largest and wealthiest city in the United States and 
one of the greatest seaports for shipping and trade in 
the world. 



Who was Henry Hudson? What did he try to find? What did 
the Dutch hire him to do ? Where did he go ? What did he call the 
river he discovered ? What is said about that river ? Tell what you 
can of Hudson's voyage up the river. What is said about the Indians ? 
Why did Hudson turn back ? What did he do then ? What is the 
river he discovered called now? What happened to Captain Hudson 
the next year? What did the Dutch do? What did they name the 
country? Why? What did they build there on Manhattan Island? 
Who seized New Netherland ? What name did they give it ? What 
is said of the " Sons of Liberty " ? What would Hudson say if he 
could see New York City now? 

1 In her right hand Liberty holds a torch to guide vessels at night. 




Copyright by Charles T. Root. 

Liberty enlightening the World 

(A statue in the harbor of New York City, given to the American people by the 

people of France.) 



44 



THE BEGINNER'S AMERICAN HISTORY 



VII. CAPTAIN MYLESi STANDISH 

(1584-1656) 

62. The English Pilgrims in Holland ; why they left England. 
— When the news of Henry Hudson's discovery of 
the Hudson River reached Holland, many Englishmen 

were living in the 
Dutch city of 
Ley den .2 These 
people were 
mostly farmers 
who had fled from 
Scrooby^ and 
neighboring vil- 
lages in the north- 
east of England. 
They called them- 
selves Pilgrims, because they were wanderers from their 
old homes. 

The Pilgrims left England because King James 
would not let them hold their religious meetings in 
peace. He thought, as all kings then did, that every- 
body in England should belong to the same church and 
worship God in the same way that he did."^ He was 

1 Myles (Miles) : Standish himself wrote it Myles. 

2 Leyden (Li'den) ; see map on this page. 

3 Scrooby (Skroo'bi) ; see map on this page. 

■* There were some people in England who thought much as the Pilgrims 
did in regard to religion, but who did not then leave the Church of England 
(as the Pilgrims left it). They were called Puritans because they insisted on 
making certain changes in the English mode of worship, wishing, as they said, 
to purify it. Many Puritans came to New England with Governor Winthrop 
in 1630; after they settled in America they established independent churches 
like the Pilgrims. 




CAPTAIN MYLES STANDISH 45 

afraid that if people were allowed to go to whatever 
church they thought best, it would lead to disputes and 
quarrels, which would end by breaking his kingdom to 
pieces. Quite a number of Englishmen, seeing that 
they could not have religious liberty at home, escaped 
with their wives and children to Holland ; for there the 
Dutch were willing to let them have such a church as 
they wanted. 

63. Why the Pilgrims wished to leave Holland and go to 
America. — But the Pilgrims were not contented in Hol- 
land. They saw that, if they stayed in that country, 
their children would grow up to be more Dutch than 
English. They saw, too, that they could not hope to 
get land in Holland. They resolved, therefore, to go to 
America, where they could get farms for nothing, and 
where their children would never forget the English lan- 
guage or the good old English customs and laws. In 
the wilderness they could not only enjoy entire religious 
freedom, but they could build up a settlement which 
would certainly be their own. 

64. The Pilgrims, with Captain Myles Standish, sail for 
England and then for America ; they reach Cape Cod and choose 
a governor there. — In 1 620 a company of Pilgrims sailed 
for England on their way to America. Captain Myles 
Standish, an English soldier, who had fought in Holland, 
joined them. He did not belong to the Pilgrim church, 
but he had become a great friend to those who did. 

About a hundred of these people sailed from Plymouth, ^ 
England, for the New World, in the ship Mayflower. 
Many of those who went were children and young 
people. The Pilgrims had a long, rough passage across 

1 Plymouth (Plim'uth). 



46 



THE BEGINNER'S AMERICAN HISTORY 




% ^Boston 16 30 

■^ -A 

* x\ Plymoiftfi 
1620) 




the Atlantic. Toward the last of November (1620) 
they saw land. It was Cape Cod, that narrow strip of 
sand, more than sixty miles long, which looks like an 

arm bent at the elbow, 
with a hand bent like a 
half-clenched fist. 

Finding that it would 
be difficult to go further, 
the Pilgrims decided to 
land and explore the 
cape; so the Mayflower 
entered Cape Cod Har- 
bor, inside the half-shut 
fist, and then came to 
anchor. 

Before they landed, 
the Pilgrims held a meeting in the cabin, and drew up 
an agreement in writing for the government of the set- 
tlement. They signed the agreement, and then chose 
John Carver governor. 

65. Wash-day ; what Standish and his men found on the 
cape. — On the first Monday after they had reached the 
cape, all the women went on shore to wash, and so 
Monday has been kept as wash-day in New England 
ever since. Shortly after that. Captain Myles Standish, 
with a number of men, started off to see the country. 
They found some Indian corn buried in the sand ; 
and a little further on a young man named William 
Bradford, who afterward became governor, stepped 
into an Indian deer-trap. It jerked him up by the leg 
in a way that must have made even the soberest Pilgrim 
smile. 



CAPTAIN MYLES STANDISH 



47 



r^- 



\. 



*-": 



66. Captain Standish and his men set sail in a boat for 
a blue hill in the west, and find Plymouth Rock ; Plymouth 
Harbor ; landing from the Mayflower. — On clear days the 
people on board the Mayflower, anchored in Cape Cod 
Harbor, could see a blue hill, on the mainland, in the 
west, about forty miles away. To that blue hill Standish 
and some others determined to go. Taking a sailboat, 
they started off. A few days later they passed the hill 
which the Indians called Manomet,^ and entered a fine 
harbor. There, 
on December 2 1 , 
1620, — the short- 
est day in the year, 
— they landed on 
ihat famous stone 
which is now 
known all over the 
world as Plymouth 
Rock. 

Standish, with 
the others, went 
back to the May- 
flower with a good report. They had found just what 
they wanted, — an excellent harbor where ships from 
England could come in; a brook of nice drinking-water; 
and last of all, a piece of land that was nearly free from 
trees, so that nothing would hinder their planting corn 
early in the spring. Captain John Smith of Virginia^ had 
been there before them, and had named the place Plym- 
outh on his map of New England. The Pilgrims liked 
the name, and so made up their minds to keep it. The 

1 Manomet (Man'o-met). 2 See page 32. 








The Landing at Plymouth 



48 



THE BEGINNER'S AMERICAN HISTORY 



V' 



Mayflower soon sailed for Plymouth, and the Pilgrims set 
to work to build the log cabins of their little settlement. 

67. Sickness and Death. — During that winter nearly 
half the Pilgrims died. Captain Standish showed him- 
self to be as good a nurse as he was a soldier. He, with 
Governor Carver and their minister, Elder Brewster, 
cooked, washed, waited on the sick, and did everything 

that kind hearts 
r^^yiijx and willing hands 

could do, to help 
their suffering 
friends. But the men 
who had begun to 
build houses had to 
stop that work to dig 
graves. When these 
graves were filled, 
they were smoothed 
down flat, so that no 
prowling Indian 
should count them 
and see how few 
white men there 
were left. 

68. Samoset,^ Squanto,^ and Massasoit ^ visit the Pilgrims. 
— One day in the spring the Pilgrims were startled at 
seeing an Indian walk boldly into their little settlement. 
He cried out in good English, " Welcome ! welcome ! " 
This visitor was named Samoset ; he had met some 
sailors years before, and had learned a few 
words from them. 




Welcome I welcome I 



English 



1 Samoset (Sam'o-set). ^Squanto (Skwon'to). 3 Massasoit (Mas'sa-soit). 



CAPTAIN MYLES STANDISH 49 

The next time Samoset came he brought with him 
another Indian, whose name was Squanto. Squanto 
was the only one left of the tribe that had once lived at 
Plymouth. All the rest had died of a dreadful sickness, 
or plague. He had been stolen by some sailors, and 
carried to England ; there he had learned the language. 
After his return he had joined an Indian tribe that lived 
about thirty miles further west. The chief of that tribe 
was named Massasoit ; and Squanto said that he was 
coming directly to visit the Pilgrims. 

In about an hour Massasoit, with some sixty war- 
riors, appeared on a hill just outside the settlement. 
The Indians had painted their faces in their very gayest 
style — black, red, and yellow. If paint could make them 
handsome, they were determined to look their best. 

69. Massasoit and Governor Carver make a treaty of friend- 
ship ; how Thanksgiving was kept ; what Squanto did for 
the Pilgrims. — Captain Standish, attended by a guard 
of honor, went out and brought the chief to Governor 
Carver. Then Massasoit and the governor made a 
solemn promise or treaty, in which they agreed that the 
Indians of his tribe and the Pilgrims should live like 
friends and brothers, doing all they could to help each 
other. That promise was kept for more than fifty 
years ; it was never broken until long after the two men 
who made it were iu their graves. 

When the Pilgrims had their first Thanksgiving, they 
invited Massasoit and his men to come and share it. 
The Indians brought venison and other good things ; 
there were plenty of wild turkeys roasted ; and so they 
all sat down together to a great dinner, and had a merry 
time in the wilderness. 



THE BEGINNER'S AMERICAN HISTORY 

Squanto was of great help to the 
Pilgrims. He showed them how to 
catch eels, where to go fishing, when 
to plant their corn, and how to put a fish 
in every hill to make the corn grow 
faster. 

After a while he came to live with the 
Pilgrims. He liked them so much that, 
when the poor fellow died, he begged 
Governor Bradford to pray that he might 
go to the white man's heaven. 

70. Canonicus^ dares Governor Bradford to 
fight ; the palisade ; the fort and meeting-house. 
— West of where Massasoit lived, there 
were some Indians on the shore of Nar- 
ragansett Bay,^ in what is now Rhode 
Island. Their chief was named Canon- 
icus, and he was no friend to Massasoit 
or to the Pilgrims. Canonicus thought 
he could frighten the white men away ; 
so he sent a bundle of sharp, new arrows, 
tied round with a rattlesnake skin, to 
Governor Bradford : that meant that he 
dared the governor and his men to come 
out and fight. Governor Bradford threw 
away the arrows, and then filled the 
snake-skin up to the mouth with powder 
and ball. This was sent back to Canon- 
icus. When he saw it, he was afraid 
to touch it, for he knew that Myles 



1 Canonicus (Ka-non'i-kus). 

2 Narragansett (Nar'a-gan'set) ; see map on page 62. 



CAPTAIN MYLES STANDISH 



51 



Standish's bullets could whistle louder and cut deeper 
than his Indian arrows. 

But though the Pilgrims did not believe that Canonicus 
would attack them, they thought it best to build a very 
high, strong fence, called a palisade, round the town. 

They also built a log fort on one of the hills, and 
used the lower part of the fort for a church. Every 
Sunday all the people, with Captain Standish at the 
head, marched to their meeting-house, where a man 
stood on guard outside. Each Pilgrim carried his gun, 
and set it down near him. 
With one ear he listened 
sharply to the preacher ; 
with the other he lis- 
tened just as sharply for 
the cry, Indians ! Indi- 
ans ! But the Indians 
never came. 

71. The new settlers ; 
trouble with the Indians in 
their neighborhood ; Captain 

Standish's fight with the savages. — By and by more emi- 
grants came from England and settled about twenty-five 
miles north of Plymouth, at a place which is now called 
Weymouth. The Indians in that neighborhood did not 
like these new settlers, and they made up their minds 
to come upon them suddenly and murder them. 

Governor Bradford sent Captain Standish, with a few 
men, to see how great the danger was. He found the 
Indians very bold. One of them came up to him, whet- 
ting a long knife. He held it up, to show how sharp it 
was, and then patting it, he said, " By and by, it shall eat, 




The Palisade built round Plymouth 



52 



THE BEGINNER'S AMERICAN HISTORY 



but not speak." Presently another Indian came up. He 
was a big fellow, much larger and stronger than Standish. 
He, too, had a long knife, as keen as a razor. "Ah," 
said he to Standish, " so this is the mighty captain 
the white men have sent to destroy us ! He is a little 
man ; let him go and work with the women." ^ 

The captain's blood was on fire with rage ; but he said 
.not a word. His time had not yet come. The next 
day the Pilgrims and the Indians met in a log cabin. 
Standish made a sign to one of his men, and he shut 
the door fast. Then the captain sprang like a tiger at 
the big savage who had laughed at him, and snatching 
his long knife from him, he plunged it into his heart. 

A hand-to-hand fight followed 
between the white men and 




Myles Standish's Kettle, 
Sword, and Pewter Dish 



3JL^ ^imoL}R^j 



Copy of Myles Standish's 
Signature 



the Indians. The Pilgrims gained the victory, and 
carried back the head of the Indian chief in triumph to 
Plymouth. Captain Standish's bold action saved both 
of the English settlements from destruction. 

72. What else Myles Standish did ; his death. — But 
Standish did more things for the Pilgrims than fight 

1 See Longfellow's poem, TAe Courtship of Miles Standish. This quotation 
is truthful in its rendering of the spirit ot the words used by the Indian in his 
insulting speech to Standish ; it should be understood, however, that the poem 
does not always adhere closely either to the chronology or to the exact facts of 
history. 



CAPTAIN MYLES STANDISH 53 

for them ; for he went to England, bought goods for 
them, and borrowed money to help them. 

He lived to be an old man. At his death he left, 
among other things, three well-worn Bibles and three 
good guns. In those days, the men who read the 
Bible most were those who fought the hardest. 

Near Plymouth there is a high hill called Captain's 
Hill. That was where Standish made his home during 
the last part of his life. A granite monument, over a 
hundred feet high, stands on top of the hill. On it is 
a statue of the brave captain looking toward the sea. 
He was one of the makers of America. 

73. Governor John Winthrop founds ^ Boston. — Ten 
years after the Pilgrims landed at Plymouth, a large 
company of English people under the leadership of 
Governor John Winthrop came to New England, 
They were called Puritans ^ ; they, too, were seeking 
that religious freedom which was denied them in the 
old country. One of the vessels which brought over 
these new settlers was named the Mayflower. She may 
have been the very ship which in 1620 brought the 
Pilgrims to these shores. 

Governor Winthrop's company named the place where 
they settled Boston, in grateful remembrance of the 
beautiful old city of Boston,^ England, from which some 
of the chief emigrants came. The new settlement was 

1 Founds : begins to build. 

2 On the Puritans see note on page 44. The Puritans were determined to 
find some place where they could worship God in the way they thought right ; 
but they had no intention of giving those who thought dii^erent from them the 
lit)erty of worshipping God in a manner unlike theirs. When such people came 
later and tried to settle among the New England Puritans, the Puritans compelled 
them to move on. 

8 Boston, England ; see map on page 44. 



54 THE BEGINNER'S AMERICAN HISTORY 

called the Massachusetts Bay^ Colony,^ Massachusetts 
being the Indian name for the Blue Hills, near Boston. 
The Plymouth Colony was now often called the Old 
Colony, because it had been settled first. After many 
years, these two colonies were united, and still later 
they became the state of Massachusetts. 

74. How other New England colonies grew up ; the Revo- 
lution. — By the time Governor Winthrop arrived English 
settlements had been made in Maine, New Hampshire, 
and later (1724), in the country which afterward became 
the state of Vermont. Connecticut and Rhode Island 
were first settled b)' emigrants who went from Massa- 
chusetts. 

When the Revolution broke out, the people through- 
out New England took up arms in defence of their 
rights. The first blopd of the war was shed on the 
soil of Massachusetts, near Boston. 

75. Summary. — The Pilgrims landed at Plymouth, 
New England, in 1620. One of the chief men who 
came with them was Captain Myles Standish. Had it 
not been for his help, the Indians might have destroyed 
the settlement. In 1630 Governor John Winthrop, with 
a large company of Puritan emigrants from England, 
settled Boston. Near Boston the first battle of the 
Revolution was fought. 



Why did some Englishmen in Holland call themselves Pilgrims ? 
Why had they left England .-' Why did they now wish to go to 
America? Who was Myles Standish? From what place in England, 
and in what ship, did the Pilgrims sail ? What land did they first see 

1 Massachusetts Bay ; see map on page 62. 

2 Colony : here a company of settlers who came to America from England, 
and who were subject to the king of England, as all the English settlers of 
America were until the Revolution. 



LORD BALTIMORE 55 

in America? What did they do at Cape Cod Harbor? What did the 
Pilgrims do on the Cape? Where did they land on December 21. 
1620? What happened during the winter? What is said of Samoset ? 
What is said about Squanto ? What is said about Massasoit ? What 
did Massasoit and Governor Carver do ? What is said about the first 
Thanksgiving ? What is said about Canonicus and Governor Brad- 
ford ? What did the Pilgrims build to protect them from the Indians? 
What is said about Weymouth? What did Myles Standish do there? 
What else did Myles Standish do besides fight? What is said of his 
death ? What did Governor John Winthrop do ? WHiat did the people 
of New England do in the Revolution ? Where was the first blood 
shed ? 



VIII. LORD BALTIMORE 

(1580-1632) 

76. Lord Baltimore's settlement in Newfoundland ; how 
Catholics were then treated in England. — While Captain 
Myles Standish was helping build up Plymouth, Lord 
Baltimore, an English nobleman, was trying to make a 
settlement on the cold, foggy island of Newfoundland. 

Lord Baltimore had been brought up a Protestant, but 
had become a Catholic. At that time Catholics were 
treated very cruelly in England. They were ordered by 
law to attend the Church of England. They did not like 
that church any better than the Pilgrims did ; but if they 
failecl to attend it, they had to take their choice between 
paying a large sum of money or going to prison. 

Lord Baltimore hoped to make a home for himself and 
for other English Catholics in the wilderness of New- 
foundland, where there would be no one to trouble them. 
But the unfortunate settlers were fairly frozen out. They 
had winter a good share of the year, and fog all of it. 
They could raise nothing, because, as one man said, the 
soil was either rock or swamp : the rock was as hard as 



56 THE BEGINNER'S AMERICAN HISTORY 

iron ; the swamp was so deep that you could not touch 
bottom with a ten-foot pole. 

77. The king of England gives Lord Baltimore part of Vir- 
ginia, and names it Maryland ; what Lord Baltimore paid for it. 
— King Charles the First, of England, was a good 
friend to Lord Baltimore ; and when the settlement in 
Newfoundland was given up, he made him a present of 
an immense three-cornered piece of land in America. 
This piece was cut out of Virginia, north of the Potomac ^ 
River. 

The king's wife, who was called Queen Mary, was a 

French Catholic. In her honor, Charles named the 

country he had given Lord Baltimore, Mary Land, or 

Maryland. He could not have chosen a better name, 

i because Maryland was to be 

^-^^fbrisi^ ^ shelter for many English 

e?'i .^ #fff i' 'I'J^i' people who believed in the 

l^^^fc^^'r^i^^^V^*'. ^^^^ religion that the queen 

j^^^^^^iji. Jg did. 

^^^^l^^m^'^'^Ti All that Lord Baltimore 

j^^^lJE^' ' w^^ ^° P^y ^o^ Maryland, 

with its twelve thousand 
square miles of land and 
water, was two Indian ar- 






Part of Windsor Castle 



rows. These he agreed to send every spring to the 
royal palace of Windsor 2 Castle, near London. 

The arrows would be worth nothing whatever to the 
king; but they were sent as a kind of yearly rent. 
They showed that, though Lord Baltimore had the use 
of Maryland, and could do pretty much as he pleased 
with it, still the king did not give up all control of it. 

1 Potomac (Po-to'mak) ; see map. page 124. 2 Windsor (Win'zor). 



LORD BALTIMORE 



57 



In Virginia and in New England the king had granted 
all land to companies of persons, and he had been par- 
ticular to tell them just what they must or must not do ; 
but he gave Maryland to one man only. More than 
this, he promised to let Lord Baltimore have his own 
way in everything, so long as he made no laws in Mary- 
land which should be 
contrary to the laws 
of England. So Lord 
Baltimore had 
greater privileges 
than any other holder 
of land in America 
at that time. 

78. Lord Baltimore 
dies ; his son sends emi- 
grants to Maryland ; the 
landing ; the Indians ; 
St. Mary's. — Lord 
Baltimore died before 
he could get ready 
to come to America. His eldest son then became Lord 
Baltimore. He sent over a number of emigrants ; part 
of them were Catholics, and part were Protestants : all 
of them were to have equal rights in Maryland. In the 
spring of 1634 these people landed on a little island near 
the mouth of the Potomac River. There they cut down 
a tree and made a large cross of it ; then, kneeling round 
that cross, they all joined in prayer to God for their safe 
journey. 

A little later they landed on the shore of the river. 
There they met some Indians. Under a huge mulberry 




The Landing in Maryland 



58 



THE BEGINNER'S AMERICAN HISTORY 



tree they bargained with the Indians for a place to build 
a town, and paid for the land in hatchets, knives, and 
beads. 

The Indians were greatly astonished at the size of the 
shij^ in which the white men came. They thought that 
It was made like their canoes, and that it was simply the 
trunk of a tree hollowed out. They wondered where 
the English could have found a tree big enough to 
make it. 

The emigrants named their settlement St. Mary's, 
because they had landed on a day kept sacred to the 

Virgin Mary.^ The Indians gave 
up one of their largest wigwams 
to Father White, one of the priests 
who had come over, and he made 
a church of it. It was the first 
English Catholic church which 
was opened in America. 

The Indians and the settlers 
lived and worked together, side 




by side. The red men showed the emigrants how to 
hunt in the forest, and the Indian women taught the 
white women how to make hominy,^ and to bake johnny- 
cake ^ before the open fire. 

79. Maryland the home of religious liberty. — Maryland 
was different from the other English colonies in America, 
because there, and there only, every Christian, whether 
Catholic or Protestant, had the right to worship God in 
his own way. In that humble little village of St. Mary's,, 



1 March 25 : Annunciation or Lady Day. 

2 Hominy : com hulled, broken, and boiled. 

8 Johnny-cake : a kind of bread made of Indian meaL 



LORD BALTIMORE 59 

made up of thirty or forty log huts and wigwams in the 
woods, " religious liberty had its only home in the wide 
world." 1 

But more than this, Lord Baltimore generously invited 
people who had been driven out of the other settlements 
on account of their religion ^ to come and live in Mary- 
land. He gave a hearty welcome to all, whether they 
thought as he did or not. Thus he showed that he was 
a noble man by nature as well as a nobleman by name. 

80. Maryland falls into trouble ; the city of Baltimore built. 
— But this happy state of things did not last long. 
Some of the people of Virginia were very angry because 
the king had given Lord Baltimore part of what they 
thought was their land. They quarrelled with the new 
settlers and made them a great deal of trouble. 

Then worse things happened. Men went to Mary- 
land and undertook to drive out the Catholics. In some 
cases they acted in a very shameful manner toward Lord 
Baltimore and his friends; among other things, they 
put Father White in irons and sent him back to England 
as a prisoner. Lord Baltimore had spent a great deal 
of money in building up the settlement, but his right to 
the land was taken away from him for a time, and all 
who dared to defend him were badly treated. 

St. Mary's never grew to be much of a place, but not 
quite a hundred years after the English landed there a 
new and beautiful city was begun (1729) in Maryland. 
It was named Baltimore, in honor of that Lord Balti- 
more who sent out the first emigrants. When the 

1 That is, " religious liberty " for all Christians. We shall see when we 
come to read about the settlement which Roger Williams made in RhoHe Island 
in 1636 that he gave entire religious liberty to all classes of men. 

2 See Note 2 on the Puritans on page 53. 



6o THE BEGINNER'S AMERICAN HISTORY 

Revolutionary War broke out, the citizens of Baltimore 
showed that they were not a bit behind the other col- 
onies of America in their spirit of independence. 

81. Summary. — -King Charles the First of England 
gave Lord Baltimore, an English Catholic, a part of 
Virginia and named it Maryland, in honor of his wife, 
Queen Mary. A company of emigrants canie out to 
Maryland in 1634. It was the first settlement in 
America in which all Christian people had entire liberty 
to worship God in whatever way they thought right. 
That liberty they owed to Lord Baltimore. 

Who was Lord Baltimore, and what did he try to do in Newfoundland ? 
How were Catholics then treated in England ? What did the king of 
England give Lord Baltimore in America ? What did the king name 
the country? What was Lord Baltimore to pay for Maryland? What 
did the king promise Lord Baltimore ? Wliat did Lord Baltimore's 
son do ? When and where did the emigrants land ? What did they 
call the place? What is said about the Indians? Of what was Mary- 
land the home ? Why did some of the people of Virginia trouble them ? 
What is said of the city of Baltimore ? What is said of the Revolution ? 



IX. ROGER WILLIAMS 

(1600- 1684) 

82. Roger Williams comes to Boston ; he preaches in Salem 
and in Plymouth ; his friendship for the Indians. — Shortly 
after Governor John Winthrop and his company settled 
Boston,^ a young minister named Roger Williams came 
over from England to join them. 

Mr. Williams soon became a great friend to the 
Indians, and while he preached at Salem,^ near Boston, 
and at Plymouth, he came to know many of them. He 

^ See page 53. - Salem (Sa'lem). 



ROGER WILLIAMS 



6l 



took pains to learn their language, and he spent a great 
deal of time talking with the chief Massasoit ^ and his 
men, in their dirty, smoky wigwams. He made the 
savages feel that, as he said, his whole heart's desire 
was to do them good. For this reason they were 
always glad to see him and ready to help him. A time 
came, as we shall presently see, when they were able to 
do quite as much for- 
him as he could do 
for them. »^ i:5i*3«i 

83. Who owned the 
greater part of Amer- 
ica ? what the king of 
England thought; what 
Roger "Williams thought 
and said. — The com- 
pany that had settled 
Boston held the land 
by permission of the 
king of England. He 
considered that most 
of the land in America belonged to him, because John 
Cabot ^ had discovered it. 

But Roger Williams said that the king had no right 
to the land unless he bought it of the Indians, who were 
living here when the English came. 

Now the people of Massachusetts were always quite 
willing to pay the Indians a fair price for whatever land 
they wanted ; but many of them were afraid to have Mr. 
Williams preach and write as he did. They believed 
that if they allowed him to go on speaking out so boldly 

1 See page 48. 2 See page 15, 




The Church in which Roger Williams 

PREACHED in SaLEM 
(It is still standing.) 



62 



THE BEGINNER'S AMERICAN HISTORY 




against the king, the English monarch would get so 
angry that he would take away Massachusetts from 
them and give it to a new company. In that case, 

those who had settled here 
would lose everything. 
For this reason the people 
of Boston tried to make 
the. young minister agree 
to keep silent on this sub- 
ject. 

84. A constable is sent 
to arrest Roger Williams ; 
he escapes to the woods, and 
goes to Mount Hope, — But 
Mr. Williams was not one 
of the kind to keep silent. 
Then the chief men of 

Boston sent a constable down to Salem, with orders to 

seize him and send him back to England. When he 

heard that the constable was after 

him, Mr. Williams slipped quietly out 

of his house and escaped to the 

woods. 

There was a heavy depth of snow 

on the ground ; but the young man 

made up his mind that he would go striking fire with fimt and 

to his old friend Massasoit, and ask ^Jht o^s^r S LTf! 

him to help him in his trouble. burnt rag, and were then 

.. , T, , TT blown to a blaze. 

Massasoit lived near Mount Hope, 
in what is now Rhode Island, about eighty miles south- 
west from Salem. There were no roads through the 
woods, and it was a long, dreary journey to make on 



Map showing Roger Williams's route from 
Salem to Mount Hope. 




ROGER WILLIAMS 63 

foot ; but Mr. Williams did not hesitate. He took a 
hatchet to chop fire-wood, a flint and steel to strike fire 
with, — for in those days people had no matches, — and, 
last of all, a pocket compass to aid him in finding his 
way through the thick forest. 

All day he waded wearily on through the deep snow, 
only stopping now and then to rest or to look at his com- 
pass and make sure that he was going in the right 
direction. At night he would gather wood enough to 
make a little fire to warm himself or to melt some snow 
for drink. Then he would cut down a few boughs for 
a bed, or if he was lucky enough to find a large, hollow 
tree, he would creep into that. There he would fall 
asleep, while listening to the howling of the wind or to 
the fiercer howling of the hungry wolves prowling about 
the woods. 

At length, after much suffering from cold and want 
of food, he managed to reach Massasoit's wigwam. 
There the big-hearted Indian chief gave him a warm 
welcome. He took him into his poor cabin and kept 
him till spring — there was no board bill to pay. All 
the Indians liked the young minister, and even Canoni- 
cus,^ that savage chief of a neighboring tribe, who had 
dared Governor Bradford to fight, said that he "loved 
him as his own son." 

85. Roger Williams at Seekonk^; "What cheer, friend?" 
— When the warm days came, in the spring of 1636, 
Mr. Williams began building a log hut for himself at 
Seekonk, on the east bank of the Seekonk River. But 
he was told that his cabin stood on ground owned by 
the people of Massachusetts ; so he, with a few friends 

1 Canonicus; see page 50. 2 Seekonk (See'konk). 



64 



THE BEGINNER'S AMERICAN HISTORY 



who had joined him, took a canoe and paddled down 
stream to find a new place to build. 

"What cheer, friend? what cheer?" shouted some 
Indians who were standing on a rock on the western 
bank of the river. That was the Indian way of saying : 
How do you do? and just then Roger Williams was 
right glad to hear it. He landed on what is now called 
"What Cheer Rock," ^ and had a talk with the red men. 

They told him 
that there was 
a fine spring of 
water round the 
point of land a 
little further 
down. He went 
there, and liked 
the spot so much 
that he decided 
to stay. His 
friend Canoni- 
cus owned the 
land, and he 
gladly let him 
have what he needed. Roger Williams believed 
that a kind Providence had guided him to this pleas- 
ant place, and for this reason he named it PROVI- 
DENCE. 

Providence was the first settlement made in America 
which set its doors wide open to every one who wished to 
come and live there. Not only all Christians, but Jews, 
and even men who went to no church whatever, could 

1 " What Cheer Rock " is on the east side of the city of Providence. 




"What Cheer, Friend?" 



ROGER WILLIAMS 



6«; 



go there and be at peace.^ This great and good work 
was done by Roger WilHams. Providence grew in time 
to be the chief city in the state of Rhode Island. When 
the Revolution began, every man and boy in the state, 
from sixteen to sixty, stood ready to fight for liberty. 

86. Summary. — Roger Williams, a young minister of 
Salem, Massachusetts, declared that the Indians, and 
not the king of England, owned the land in America. 
The governor of Massachusetts was afraid that if Mr. 
Williams kept on saying these things, the king would 
hear of it and would take 
away the land held by the 
people of Boston and the other 
settlements. He therefore 
sent a constable to arrest the 
young minister and put him 
on board a ship going back to 
England. When Mr. Williams 
knew this, he fled to the In- 
dian chief, Massasoit. In 




1636 Roger Williams began building Providence. Provi- 
dence was the first settlement in America which offered 
a home to all men without asking them anything what- 



ever about their religious belief. 



Who was Roger Williams ? What is said about him and the 
Indians ? Who did Mr. Williams think first owned the land in 
America.'' How did many of the people of Massachusetts feel about 
Mr. Williams? What did the chief men of Boston do .^ What did 
Mr. Williams do.' Describe his journey to Mount Hope. What did 
Massasoit do for Mr. Williams ? What did Mr. Williams do at See- 
konk? What happened after that.' Why did he name the settle- 
ment Providence ? What is said of Providence ? What about the 
Revolution ? 

1 See Note i on page 59. 



66 THE BEGINNER'S AMERICAN HISTORY 

X. KING PHILIP 

(Time of the Indian War, 1675-1676) 

87. Death of Massasoit ; Wamsutta ^ and Philip ; Wam- 
sutta's sudden death. — When the Indian chief Massasoit ^ 
died, the people of Plymouth lost one of their best 
friends. Massasoit left two sons, one named Wamsutta, 
who became chief in his father's place, and the other 
called Philip. They both lived near Mount Hope, in 
Rhode Island. 

The governor of Plymouth heard that Wamsutta was 
stirring up the Indians to make war on the whites, and 
he sent for the Indian chief to come to him and give 
an account of himself. Wamsutta went, but on his way 
back he suddenly fell sick, and soon after he reached 
home he died. His young wife was a woman who was 
thought a great deal of by her tribe, and she told them 
that she felt sure the white people had poisoned her 
husband in order to get rid of him. This was not true, 
but the Indians believed it. 

88. Philip becomes chief ; why he hated the white men ; 
how the white men had got possession of the Indian lands. — 
Philip now became chief. He called himself " King 
Philip." His palace was a wigwam made of bark. 
On great occasions he wore a bright red blanket and 
a kind of crown made of a broad belt ornamented with 
shells. King Philip hated the white people because, in 
the first place, he believed that they had murdered his 
brother ; and next, because he saw that they were 

1 Wamsutta (Wam-sut'ta). 

2 Massasoit; see page 48. 



KING PHILIP 



67 



growing stronger in numbers every year, while the 
Indians were becoming weaker. 

When the Pilgrims landed at Plymouth, Massasoit, 
Philip's father, held all the country from Cape Cod 
back to the eastern shores of Narragansett Bay: that 
is, a strip about thirty miles wide. The white settlers 
bought a small piece of this land. After a while they 
bought more, and so they kept on, until in about fifty 
years they got nearly all of what Massasoit's tribe had 
once owned. The Indians had nothing left but two 




The Belt which King Philip wore for a Crown 



little necks of land, which were nearly surrounded by 
the waters of Narragansett Bay. Here they felt that 
they were shut up almost like prisoners, and that the 
white men watched everything that they did. 

89. How King Philip felt ; signs of the coming war ; the 
"Praying Indians"; the murder. — King Philip was a 
very proud man — quite as proud, in fact, as the king 
of England. He could not bear to see his people losing 
power. He said to himself, If the Indians do not rise 
and drive out the white men, then the white men will 
certainly drive out the Indians. Most of the Indians 
now had gims, and could use them quite as well as the 
whites could ; so Philip thought that it was best to 
fight. 



68 



THE BEGINNER'S AMERICAN HISTORY 



The settlers felt that the war was coming. Some 
of them fancied that they saw the figure of an In- 
dian bow in the clouds. Others said that they heard 
sounds like guns fired off in the air, and horsemen 
riding furiously up and down in the sky, as if getting 
ready for battle. 

But though many Indians now hated the white set- 
tlers, this was not true of all. A minister, named John 
Eliot, had persuaded some of the red men near Boston 

to give up their re- 
ligion, and to try to 
live like the white 
people. These were 
called " Praying Indi- 
ans." One of them 
who knew King 
Philip well told the 
settlers that Philip's 
warriors were grind- 
ing their hatchets 
sharp for war. Soon 
afterward this " Pray- 
ing Indian" was found murdered. The white people ac- 
cused three of Philip's men of having killed him. They 
were tried, found guilty, and hanged. 

90. Beginning of the war at Swansea^; burning of Brook- 
field. — Then Philip's warriors began the war in the 
summer of 1675. Some white settlers were going 
home from church in the town of Swansea, Massa- 
chusetts ; they had been to pray that there might be 
no fighting. As they walked along, talking together, 

1 Swansea (Swon'ze). 




KING PHILIP 



69 



two guns were fired out of the bushes. One of the 
white men fell dead in the road, and another was 
badly hurt. 

The shots were fired by Indians. This was the way 
they always fought when they could. They were not 
cowards ; but they did not come out and fight boldly, 
but would fire from behind trees and rocks. Fre- 
quently a white man 



would be killed 
without even seeing 
who shot him. 

At first the fight- 
ing was mainly in 
those villages of 
Plymouth Colony 
which were nearest 
Narragansett Bay ; 
then it spread to 
the valley of the 
Connecticut River 
and the neighbor- 
hood. Deerfield, 
Springfield, Brook- 
field,^ Groton,2 and 
many other places 
in Massachusetts were attacked. The Indians would 
creep up stealthily in the night, burn the houses, carry 
off the women and children prisoners if they could, kill 
the rest of the inhabitants, take their scalps home and 
hang them up in their wigwams. 




Indian Attack on a Village 



1 See map on page 68. 

2 Groton (Graw'ton). 






70 



THE BEGINNER'S AMERICAN HISTORY 



At Brookfield the settlers left their houses, and gath- 
ered in one strong house for defence. The Indians 
burned all the houses but that one, and did their best 
to burn that, too. They dipped rags in brimstone, — 
such as we make matches of, — fastened them to the 
points of their arrows, set fire to them, and then shot 
the blazing arrows into the shingles of the roof. When 
the Indians saw that the shingles had caught, and were 
beginning to flame up, they danced for joy, and roared 

like wild bulls. 
But the men in the 
house managed to 
put out the fire on 
the roof. Then 
the savages got a 
cart, filled it with 
hay, set it on fire, 
and pushed it up 
against the house. 
This time they 
thought that they 
should certainly 
burn the white 
people out ; but 
just then a heavy 
shower came up, and put out the fire. A little later, 
some white soldiers marched into the village, and saved 
the people in the house. 

91. The fight at Hadley ; what Colonel ^ Goffe^ did. — At 
Hadley, the people were in the meeting-house when the 




Colonel Goffe's Brave Leadership 



1 Colonel (kur'nel) : the chief officer of a regiment of soldiers. 

2 Goffe (Goff ) ; see List of Books in Appendix. 



KING PHILIP 71 

terrible Indian war-whoop ^ rang through the village. 
The savages drove back those who dared to go out 
against them, and it seemed as if the village must be 
destroyed. Suddenly a white-haired old man, sword in 
hand, appeared among the settlers. No one knew 
who he was; but he called to them to follow him, as 
a captain calls to his men, and they obeyed him. The 
astonished Indians turned and ran. When all was 
over, the whites looked for their brave leader, but 
he was gone ; they never saw him again. Many 
thought that he was an angel who had been sent to 
save them. But the angel was Colonel Goffe, an Eng- 
lishman, one of the judges who, during a great war in 
England, had sentenced King Charles the First to death. 
He had escaped to America ; and, luckily for the people 
of Hadley, he was hiding in the house of a friend in 
that village when the Indians attacked it. 

92. How a woman drove off an Indian. — In this dread- 
ful war with the savages there were times when even the 
women had to fight for their lives. In one case a woman 
had been left in a house with two young children. She 
heard a noise at the window, and looking up, saw an In- 
dian trying to raise the sash. Quick as thought, she 
clapped the two little children under two large brass 
kettles which stood near. Then, seizing a shovelful of 
red-hot coals from the open fire, she stood ready, and 
just as the Indian thrust his head into the room, she 
dashed the coals right into his face and eyes. With a 
yell of agony the Indian let go his hold, dropped to the 
ground as though he had been shot, and ran howling 
to the woods. 

1 War-whoop (war-hoop) : a very loud, shrill cry made by the Indians when 
engaged in war, or as a shout of alarm. 



•^2 THE BEGINNER'S AMERICAN HISTORY 

93. The great swamp fight ; burning the Indian wigwams ; 
what the Chief Canonchet ^ said. — During the summer and 
autumn of 1675 the Indians on the west side of Narra- 
gansett Bay^ took no open part in King Philip's War. 
But the next winter the white people found that these 
Indians were secretly receiving and sheltering the sav- 
ages who had been wounded in fighting for that noted 
chief. For that reason the settlers determined to raise a 
large force and attack them. The Indians had gathered 
in a fort on an island in a swamp. This fort was a very 
difficult place to reach. It was built of the trunks of 
trees set upright in the ground. It was so strong that 
the savages felt quite safe. 

Starting very early in the morning, the attacking 
party waded fifteen miles through deep snow. Many 
of them had their hands and feet badly frozen. One of 
the chief men in leading the attack was Captain Benja- 
min Church of Plymouth ; he was a very brave soldier^ 
and knew all about Indian life and Indian fighting. In 
the battle, he was struck by two bullets, and so badly 
wounded that he could not move a step further ; but 
he made one of his men hold him up, and shouted to 
his soldiers to go ahead. The fight was a desperate one, 
but at length the fort was taken. The attacking party 
lost more than two hundred and fifty men in killed and 
wounded ; the Indians lost as many as a thousand. 

After the battle was over, Captain Church begged 
the men not to burn the wigwams inside the fort, for 
there were a great number of old men and women and 
little Indian children in the wigwams. But the men 
were very mad against the savages, and would not listen 

1 Canonchet (Ka-non'chet). * See map on page 68. 





Indian Attack on a 

Settlement 

(The building on the right is 
a block-house, or fort made 
of hewn logs. These block- 
houses were built as places 
of refuge for the settlers, 
in case of an attack on tha 
town by the Indians.) 



73 



74 THE BEGINNER'S AMERICAN HISTORY 

to him. They set the wigwams on fire, and burned 
many of these poor creatures to death. 

Canonchet, the chief of the tribe, was taken prisoner. 
The settlers told him they would spare his life if he 
would try to make peace. " No," said he, "we will all 
fight to the last man rather than become slaves to the 
white men." He was then told that he must be shot. 
" I like it well," said he. " I wish to die before my 
heart becomes soft, or I say anything unworthy of 
myself." 

94. Philip's wife and son are taken prisoners ; Philip is 
shot ; end of the war. — The next summer Captain Church, 
with a lot of "brisk Bridgewater lads," chased King 
Philip and his men, and took many of the Indians 
prisoners. Among those then taken captive were King 
Philip's wife and his little boy. When Philip heard 
of it he cried out, " My heart breaks ; now I am ready 
to die." He had good reason for saying so. It was 
the custom in England to sell such prisoners of war 
as slaves. Following this custom, the Massachusetts 
settlers took this boy, the grandson of that Massasoit^ 
who had helped them when they were poor and weak, 
and sold him with his mother. They were sent to the 
Bermuda Islands,^ and there worked to death under the 
hot sun and the lash of the slave-driver's whip. 

Not long after that. King Philip himself was shot. 
He had been hunted like a wild beast from place to 
place. At last he had come back to see his old home 
at Mount Hope^ once more. There Captain Church 

1 See page 48. 

2 Bermuda (Ber-mu'dah) : the Bermuda Islands are in the Atlantic, north of 
the West India Islands and east of South Carolina ; they belong to Great Britain. 

8 See map on page 62. 



KING PHILIP 



75 



found him ; there the Indian warrior was shot. His 
head and hands were cut off, — as was then done in 
England in such cases, — and his head was carried to 
Plymouth and set up on 
a pole. It stood there 
twenty years. 

King Philip's death 
brought the war to an 
end. It had lasted a little 
over a year ; that is, from 
the early summer 
of 1675 to the 
latter part of the 
summer of 1676. 
In that short time 
the Indians had 
killed between 
five and six hun- 
dred white set- 
tlers, and had 
burned thirteen 
villages to ashes, 
besides partly 

burning a great 

,T,, Death of King Philip 

many more. 1 he 

war cost so much money that many people were made 

poor by it ; but the strength of the Indians was broken ; 

and they never dared to trouble the people of Southern 

New England again. 

95. Summary. — In 1675 King Philip began a great 

Indian war against the people of Southeastern New 

England. His object was to kill off the white settlers, 




y6 THE BEGINNER'S AMERICAN HISTORY 

and get back the land for the Indians. He did kill a 
large number, and he destroyed many villages ; but in 
the end the white men gained the victory. Philip's wife 
and child were sold as slaves, and he was shot. The 
Indians never attempted another war in this part of 
the country. 

Who was Wamsutta? What happened to him.-' Who was " King 
PhiUp" ? Why did he hate the white men ? What did he say to him- 
self.-' What is said about the "Praying Indians".'' What happened 
to one of them ? What was done with three of Philip's men .'' Where 
and how did the war begin .-* To what part of the country did it spread ? 
Tell about the Indian attack on Brookfield. What happened at 
Hadley ? Tell how a woman drove off an Indian. Tell all you can 
about the Great Swamp Fight. What is said about Canonchet .'' What 
is said of King Philip's wife and son ? What happened to King Philip 
himself.' What is said about the war? 



XL WILLIAM PENN 
(1644-1718) 

96. King Charles the Second gives William Penn a great 
piece of land, and names it Pennsylvania. — King Charles 
the Second of England owed a large sum of money to a 
young Englishman named William Penn. The king was 
fond of pleasure, and he spent so much money on him- 
self and his friends that he had none left to pay his just 
debts. Penn knew this ; so he told His Majesty that if 
he would give him a piece of wild land in America, he 
would ask nothing more. 

Charles was very glad to settle the account so easily. 
He therefore gave Penn a great territory ^ north of 
Maryland ^ and west of the Delaware River. This 

1 Territory : any very large extent of land. 

2 See map on page 79. 



WILLIAM PENN 



17 



territory was nearly as large as England. The king 
named it Pennsylvania, a word which means Penn's 
Woods. At that time the land was not thought to be 
worth much. No one then had discovered the fact 
that beneath Penn's Woods there were immense mines 
of coal and iron, 
which would one 
day be of greater 
value than all the 
riches of the king 
of England. 

97. WiUiam Penn's 
religion ; what he 
wanted to do with 
his American land. — 
Penn belonged to 
a religious society 
called the Society 
of Friends ; to-day 
they are generally 
spoken of as Quak- 
ers. They are a 
people who try to 
find out what is 

right by asking their own hearts. They believe in 
showing no more signs of respect to one man than to 
another, and at that time they would not take off their 
hats even to the king himself. 

Penn wanted the land which had been given him 
here as a place where the Friends or Quakers might 
go and settle. A little later the whole of what is 
now the state of New Jersey was bought by Penn 




William Penn receiving the Grant of 
Pennsylvania from Charles II 



78 



THE BEGINNER'S AMERICAN HISTORY 



and other Quakers for the same purpose. We have 
seen^ that neither the Pilgrims nor the CathoHcs had 
any real peace in England. The Quakers suffered even 
more still ; for oftentimes they were cruelly whipped and 
thrown into dark and dirty prisons, where many died of 
the bad treatment they received. William Penn himself 

had been shut 
up in jail four 
times on ac- 
count of his 
religion; and 
though he was 
no longer in 
such danger, 
because the 
king was his 
friend, yet he 
wanted to pro- 
vide a safe place 
for others who 
were not so well 
off as he was. 

98. Penn sends 
out emigrants to 
Pennsylvania; he 
gets ready to go himself ; his conversation with the Mng. — 
Penn accordingly sent out a number of people who were 
anxious to settle in Pennsylvania. The next year, 1682, 
he made ready to sail, himself, with a hundred more 
emigrants. Just before he started, he called on the 
king in his palace in London. The king was fond of 




William Penn 



1 See pages 44 and 55. 



WILLIAM PENN 



79 



joking, and he said to Penn that he should never expect 

to see him again, for he thought that the Indians would 

be sure to catch such a good-looking young man as 

Penn was and eat him. 'But, Friend Charles,' said 

Penn, ' I mean to buy the land of the Indians, so they 

will rather keep on good terms with me than eat me.' 

' Buy their lands ! ' exclaimed the king. * Why, is not 

the whole of America mine ? ' ' Certainly not,' answered 

Penn. ' What ! ' replied the king ; ' did n't my people 

discover it ? ^ and so have n't I 

the right to it .? ' ' Well, Friend 

Charles,' said Penn, ' suppose a 

canoe, full of Indians, should 

cross the sea and they should 

discover England, would that 

make it theirs ? Would you give 

up the country to them ? ' The 

king did not know what to say to 

this ; it was a new way of looking 

at the matter. He probably said 

to himself. These Quakers are a 

strange people ; they seem to think that even American 

savages have rights which should be respected. 

99. Penn founds ^ the city of Philadelphia ; his treaty ^ with 
the Indians ; his visit to them ; how the Indians and the 
Quakers got on together. — When William Penn reached 
America, in 1682, he sailed up the broad and beautiful 
Delaware River, for nearly a hundred miles. There he 
stopped, and resolved to build a city on its banks. He 




1 Referring to the discovery of tlie American continent by the Cabots, sent 
out by Henry the Seventh of England, see page 15. 

2 Founds ; begins to build. 8 Treaty : an agreement ; and see page 49^ 



8o 



THE BEGINNER'S AMERICAN HISTORY 



gave the place the Bible name of Philadelphia,^ or the City 
of Brotherly Love, because he hoped that all of its citizens 
Mrould live together like brothers. The streets were named 
from the trees then growing on the land, and so to-day 
many are still called Walnut, Pine, Cedar, Vine, and so on. 




Penn and the Indians 



Penn said, "We intend to sit down lovingly among 
the Indians." On that account, he held a great meet- 
ing with them, under a wide-spreading elm. The tree 
stood in what is now a part of Philadelphia.^ Here 

1 See Revelation i. ii and iii. 7. 

2 The " Treaty Elm," as it was called, stood in what is now Kensington, a 
district which is included within the bounds of Philadelphia. The tree is no 
longer standing. 



WILLIAM PENN 8 1 

Penn and the red men made a treaty, or agreement, by 
which they promised each other that they would Hve 
together as friends as long as the water should run in 
the rivers, or the sun shine in the sky. 

Nearly a hundred years later, while the Revolutionary 
War was going on, the British army took possession of the 
city. It was cold, winter weather, and the men wanted 
fire-wood ; but the English general thought so much of 
William Penn that he set a guard of soldiers round the 
great elm, to prevent any one from chopping it down. 

Not long after the great meeting under the elm, Penn 
visited some of the savages in their wigwams. They 
treated him to a dinner — or shall we say a lunch ? — 
of roasted acorns. After their feast, some of the young 
savages began to run and leap about, to show the 
Englishman what they could do. When Penn was in 
college at Oxford he had been fond of doing such things 
himself. The sight of the Indian boys made him feel 
like a boy again ; so he sprang up from the ground, and 
beat them all at hop, skip, and jump. This completely 
won the hearts of the red men. 

From that time, for sixty years, the Pennsylvania 
settlers and the Indians were fast friends. The Indians 
said, "The Quakers are honest men ; they do no harm ; 
they are welcome to come here." In New England 
there had been, as we have seen,^ a terrible war with 
the savages, but in Pennsylvania no Indian ever shed a 
drop of Quaker blood. 

100. How Philadelphia grew; what was done there in the 
Revolution ; William Penn's last years and death. — Phila- 
delphia grew quite fast. William Penn let the people 

1 See page 68. 



82 



THE BEGINNER'S AMERICAN HISTORY 



have land very cheap, and he said to them, " You shall 
be governed by laws of your own making." Even after 
Philadelphia became a good-sized town, it had no poor- 
house, for none was needed ; everybody seemed to be 

able to take care of 
himself. 

When the Revolution 
began, the people of 
Pennsylvania and of the 
country north and south 
of it sent men to Phila- 
delphia to decide what 
should be done. This 
meeting was called the 
Congress. It was held 
in the old State House, 
a building which is still 
standing; and in 1776 
Congress declared the 
United States of Amer- 
ica independent of England. In the war, the people of 
Delaware and New Jersey fought side by side with 
those of Pennsylvania. 

William Penn spent a great deal of money in helping 
Philadelphia and other settlements. After he returned 
to England he was put in prison for debt, by a rascally 
fellow he had employed. He did not owe the money, 
and he proved that the man who said that he did was 
no better than a thief. Penn was released from prison ; 
but his long confinement in jail had broken his health 
down. When he died the Indians of Pennsylvania sent 
his widow some beautiful furs, in remembrance of their 




William Penn in Prison 



WILLIAM PENN 83 

" Brother Penn," as they called him. They said that the 
furs were to make her a cloak, "to protect her while pass- 
ing through this thorny wilderness without her guide." 

About twenty-five miles west of London, on a country 
road within sight of the towers of Windsor Castle,^ there 
stands a Friends' meeting-house, or Quaker church.^ In 
the yard back of the meeting-house, William Penn lies 
buried. For a hundred years or more, there was no 
mark of any kind to show where he rests ; but now a 
small stone bearing his name points out the grave of 
the founder of the great state of Pennsylvania. 

101. Summary. — Charles the Second, king of Eng- 
land, owed William Penn, a young English Quaker, a 
large sum of money. In order to settle the debt, the 
king gave him a great piece of land in America, and 
named it Pennsylvania, or Penn's Woods. Penn wished 
to make a home for Quakers in America ; and in 1682 
he came over, and began building the city of Philadel- 
phia. When the Revolution broke out, men were sent 
from all parts of the country to Philadelphia, to hold 
a meeting called the Congress. In 1776, Congress 
declared the United States independent. 

To whom did King Charles the Second owe a large sum of money ? 
How did he pay his debt ? What did the king name the country ? 
What does the name mean ? What valuable mines have been found 
there.' What is said about the Friends or Quakers.'' What did Penn 
want the land here for.'' How were the Quakers then treated in Eng- 
land ? What did Penn do in 1682 .' Tell what the king said to Penn 
and what Penn replied. What city did Penn begin to build here? 
What does Philadelphia mean ? What did Penn and the Indians do ? 
What did the English general do about the great elm in the Revolu- 
tion.'' Tell about Penn's dinner with the Indians. Did the Indians 
trouble the Quakers .J" What is said of the growth of Philadelphia.' 
What was done there in the Revolution ? Tell what you can about 
Penn's last days. Where is he buried ? 

1 Windsor Castle ; see page 56, 2 it is known as Jordan's meeting-house. 



84 THE BEGINNER'S AMERICAN HISTORY 

XII. GENERAL JAMES OGLETHORPE i 

(1696-1785) 

102. The twelve English colonies in America; General 
Oglethorpe makes a settlement in Georgia. — We have seen ^ 
that the first real colony or settlement made in America 
by the English was in Virginia in 1607. By t*he begin- 
ning of 1733, or in about a hundred and twenty-five 
years, eleven more had been made, or twelve in all. 
They stretched along the seacoast, from the farthest 
coast of Maine to the northern boundary of Florida, 
which was then owned by the Spaniards.^ 

The two colonies farthest south were North Carolina 
and South Carolina. In 1733 James Oglethorpe, a 
brave English soldier, who afterward became General 
Oglethorpe, came over here to make a new settlement. 
This new one, which made thirteen^ in all, was called 
Georgia in honor of King George the Second, who gave 
a piece of land for it, on the seacoast, below South 
Carolina. 

103. What it was that led General Oglethorpe to make this 
new settlement. — General Oglethorpe had a friend in 
England who was cast into prison for debt. There the 
unfortunate man was so cruelly treated that he fell sick 
and died, leaving his family in great distress. 

1 Oglethorpe (O'gel-thorp). 2 See page 26. 

s Because the Spaniards had settled it in 1565 ; see page 20. 

4 These thirteen colonies or settlements were : First, the four New England 
colonies (New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and Rhode Island; 
Maine was then part of Massachusetts, and Vermont was claimed by both New 
Hampshire and New York). Secondly, four middle colonies (New York, New 
Jersey, Pennsylvania, with Delaware). Thirdly, five southern colonies (Mary- 
land, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia). 



GENERAL JAMES OGLETHORPE 



85 



He thought if the best of 



.y VIRGINIA 



The General felt the death of his friend so much 
that he set to work to find out how other poor debtors 
lived in the London prisons. He soon saw that great 
numbers of them suffered terribly. The prisons were 
crowded and filthy. The men shut up in them were 
ragged and dirty ; some of them were fastened with heavy 
chains ; and a good many actually died of starvation. 

General Oglethorpe could not bear to see strong men 
killed off in this manner, 
them — those who 
were honest and will- 
ing to work — could 
have the chance given 
them of earning their 
living, that they would 
soon do as well as any 
men. It was to help 
them that he per- 
suaded the king to 
give the land of 
Georgia. 

104. Building the 
city of Savannah ; what the people of Charleston, South Caro- 
lina, did ; a busy settlement ; the alligators. — General Ogle- 
thorpe took thirty-five families to America in 1733. 
They settled on a bank of the Savannah ^ River, about 
twenty miles from the sea. The General laid out a 
town with broad, straight, handsome streets, and with 
many small squares or parks. He called the settlement 
Savannah, from the Indian name of the river on which 
it stands. 




Aug-ustine 1565 



1 Savannah (Sa-van'ah). 



86 



THE BEGINNER'S AMERICAN HISTORY 



The people of Charleston, South Carolina, were glad 
to have some English neighbors south of them that 
would help them fight the Spaniards of Florida, who 
hated the English, and wanted to drive them out. They 
gave the newcomers a hundred head of cattle, a drove 
of hogs, and twenty barrels of rice. 

The emigrants set to work with a will, cutting down 
the forest trees, building houses, and planting gardens. 
There were no idlers to be seen at Savannah : even the 

children found some- 
thing to do that was 
helpful. 

Nothing disturbed 
the people but the alli- 
gators. They climbed 
up the bank from the 
river to see what was 
going on. But the 
boys soon taught them 
not to be too curious. 
When one monster 
was found impudently 
prowling round the 
town, they thumped him with sticks till they fairly beat 
the life out of him. Soon the alligators decided not to 
pay any more visits to the settlers. 

105. Arrival of some German emigrants; '* Ebenezer " ^ ; 
"blazing" trees. — After a time, some German Protes- 
tants, who had been cruelly driven out of their native 
land on account of their religion, came to Georgia. 
General Oglethorpe gave them a hearty welcome. He 

1 Ebenezer (Eb-e-ne'zer). 




Laying out the City of Savannah 



GENERAL JAMES OGLETHORPE 



87 



had bought land of the Indians, and so there was plenty 
of room for all. The Germans went up the river, and 
then went back a number of miles into the woods ; 
there they picked out a place for a town. They called 
their settlement by 
the Bible name of 
Ebenezer,^ which 
means " The Lord 
hath helped us." 

There were no 
roads through the 
forests, so the new 
settlers " blazed" the 
trees ; that is, they 
chopped a piece of 
bark off, so that they 
could find their way 
through the thick 
woods when they 
wanted to go to Sa- 
vannah. Every tree 
so marked stood like 
a guide-po s t ; it 
showed the traveller 
which way to go until he came in sight of the next one. 

106. Trying to make silk ; the queen's American dress. 
- — The settlers hoped to be able to get large quantities 
of silk to send to England, because the mulberry tree 
grows wild in Georgia, and its leaves are the favorite 
food of the silkworm.2 At first it seemed as if the 




1 See I Samuel vii. 12. 2 Silkworm: a kind of caterpillar which spins 

a fine, soft thread of which silk is made. 



88 THE BEGINNER'S AMERICAN HISTORY 

plan would be successful, and General Oglethorpe took 
over some Georgia silk as a present to the queen of 
England. She had a handsome dress made of it for 
her birthday ; it was the first American silk dress ever 
worn by an English queen. But after a while it was 
found that silk could not be produced in Georgia as 
well as it could in Italy and France, and so in time 
cotton came to be raised instead. 

107. Keeping out the Spaniards ; Georgia powder at Bun- 
ker Hill ; General Oglethorpe in his old age. — The people 
of Georgia did a good work in keeping out the Span- 
iards, who were trying to get possession of the part of 
the country north of Florida. Later,- like the settlers 
in North Carolina and South Carolina, they did their 
full share in helping to make America independent of 
the rule of the king of England. When the war of 
the Revolution began, the king had a lot of powder 
stored in Savannah. The people broke into the build- 
ing, rolled out the kegs, and carried them off. Part of 
the powder they kept for themselves, and part they 
seem to have sent to Massachusetts ; so that it is quite 
likely that the men who fought at Bunker Hill may 
have loaded their guns with some of the powder gi\'en 
them by their friends in Savannah. In that case the 
king got it back, but in a somewhat different way from 
what he expected. 

General Oglethorpe spent the closing years of his 
life in England. He lived to a very great age. Up 
to the last, he had eyes as bright and keen as a boy's. 
After the Revolution was over, the king made a treaty, 
or agreement, by which he promised to let the United 
States of America live in peace. General Oglethorpe 



BENJAMIN FRANKLIN 89 

was able to read that treaty without spectacles. He 
had lived to see the colony of Georgia which he had 
settled become a free and independent state. 

108. Summary. — In 1733 General James Oglethorpe 
brought over a number of emigrants from England, and 
settled Savannah, Georgia. Georgia was the thirteenth 
English colony ; it was the last one established in this 
country. General Oglethorpe lived to see it become 
one of the United States of America. 



At the beginning of 1733 how many English colonies were there in 
America.'' Who was General Oglethorpe? What did he do? Why 
was the new settlement called Georgia ? Tell what happened to a 
friend of General Oglethorpe's. What did he wish to do for the poor 
debtors ? What is said about the settlement of Savannah ? What is 
said about the German emigrants and Ebenezer? What is said about 
raising silk ? What good work did the people of Georgia do ? What 
is said about Georgia powder in the Revolution '* What is said of 
General Oglethorpe in old age? 



XIII. BENJAMIN FRANKLIN 

(1706-1790) 

109. Growth of Philadelphia; what a young printer was 
doing for it. — By the year 1733, when the people of 
Savannah ^ were building their first log cabins, Phila- 
delphia ^ had grown to be the largest city in this coun- 
try, — though it would take more than seventy such 
cities to make one as great as Philadelphia now is. 

Next to William Penn,^ the person who did the most for 
Philadelphia was a young man who had gone from Boston 
to make his home among the Quakers. He lived in a 

1 See page 85. 2 See page 79. 8 See page 76. 



90 



THE BEGINNER'S AMERICAN HISTORY 




small house near the market. On a board over the door 

he had painted his name and business ; here it is : 

110. Franklin's newspaper and 
almanac^ ; how he worked ; standing 
before kings. — Franklin was then 
publishing a small newspaper, 
called the Pennsylvania Gazette? 
To-day we print newspapers by 
steam at the rate of two or three 
hundred a minute ; but Franklin, 
standing in his shirt-sleeves at a 
little press, printed his with his 

own hands. It was hard work, as you 

could see by the drops of sweat that 

stood on his forehead ; and it was slow 

as well as hard. The 

young man not only 

wrote himself most of 

what he printed in his 

paper, but he often 

made his own ink ; 

sometimes he even 

made his own type.^ 

When he got out of 

paper he would take a 

wheelbarrow, go out 

and buy a load, and 

wheel it home. To- 
day there are more 

than three hundred Franklin wheeling a Load of Paper 

1 Almanac (al'ma-nak). 2 Gazette (ga-zef) : a newspaper. 

8 Type : the raised metal letters used in printing are made by melting lead 
and some other metals together and pouring the mixture into molds. 




BENJAMIN FRANKLIN 



91 



newspapers printed in Philadelphia ; then there were 
only two, and Franklin's was the better of those two. 

Besides this paper he published an almanac, which 
thousands of people bought. In it he printed such 
sayings as these : " Fie who would thrive ^ imtst rise at 
five^^ and ** If you want a thing well done, do it your- 
self r But Franklin 
was not contented 
with simply printing 
these sayings, for he 
practised them as 
well. 

Sometimes his 
friends would ask him 
why he began work 
so early in the morn- 
ing, and kept at it 
so many hours. He 
would laugh, and tell 
them that his father 
ased to repeat to him 
this saying of Solo- 
mon's : ^'Seest thou a 
man diligent in his 

business ? he shall stand before kings ; he shall not 
stajid before mean inen.'"^ 

At that time the young printer never actually 
expected to stand in the presence of a king ; but years 
later he met with five ; and one of them, his friend, the 
king of France, gave him his picture set round with 
diamonds. 




Franklin printing his Newspaper 



1 Thrive : to get on in business, to prosper. 



2 See Proverbs xxii. 29. 



92 THE BEGINNER'S AMERICAN HISTORY 

111. Franklin's boyhood; making tallow candles; he is 
apprenticed ^ to his brother ; how he managed to save money to 
buy books. — Franklin's father was a poor man with a 
large family. He lived in Boston, and made soap and 
candles. Benjamin went to school two years ; then, 
when he was ten years old, his father set him to work 
in his factory, and he never went to school again. He 
was now kept busy filling the candle-molds with melted 
tallow, cutting off the ends of the wicks, and running 
errands. But the boy did not like this kind of work ; 
and, as he was very fond of books, his 
father put him in a printing office. This 
office was carried on by James Franklin, 
one of Benjamin's brothers. James Frank- 
lin paid a small sum of money each week 
A Type ^^j. Benjamin's board ; but the boy told him 
that if he would let him have half the 
money to use as he liked, he would board himself. 
James was glad to do this. Benjamin then gave up 
eating meat, and, while the others went out to dinner, 
he would stay in the printing office and eat a boiled 
potato, or perhaps a handful of raisins. In this way 
he saved up a number of coppers every week ; 
and when he got enough laid by he would buy a 
book. 

But James Franklin was not only a mean man, but 
a hot-tempered one ; and when he got angry with 
his young apprentice, he would beat and knock him 
about. At length the lad, who was now seventeen, 

1 Apprenticed : bound by a written agreement to learn the trade of a master, 
who is bound by the same agreement to teach the trade. In Franklin's time an 
apprentice had to bind himself to serve seven years, and in most ways he was 
entirely under the control of his master. 



BENJAMIN FRANKLIN 



93 



made up his mind that he would run away, and go 
to New York. 

112. Young Franklin runs away; he goes to New York, 
and then to Philadelphia. — Young FrankUn sold some of 
his books, and with the money paid his passage to New 
York by a sailing vessel, — for in those days there were 
no steamboats or railroads in America. When he got 
to New York, he could not find work, so he decided to 
go on to Philadelphia. 

He started to walk across New Jersey to Burlington 
on the Delaware River, a distance of about fifty miles; 
there he hoped to get a 
sailboat going down the 
river to Philadelphia. 
Shortly after he set out, 
it began to rain hard, and 
the lad was soon wet to 
the skin and splashed all 
over with red mud; but 
he kept on until noon; 
then took a rest; and on 

the third day he reached Burlington and got passage 
down the river. 

113. Franklin's Sunday walk in Philadelphia; the rolls; 
Miss Read ; the Quaker meeting-house. — Franklin landed 
in Philadelphia on Sunday morning (1723). He was 
tired and hungry; he had but a single dollar in the 
world. As he walked along, he saw a bakeshop open. 
He went in and bought three great, puffy rells for a 
penny ^ each. Then he started up Market Street, where 
he was one day to have his newspaper office. He had 

1 Penny : an English coin worth two cents. 




94 



THE BEGINNER'S AMERICAN HISTORY 



a roll like a small loaf of bread tucked under each arm ; 
and he was eating the other as though it tasted good 
to him. As he passed a house, he noticed a nice-look- 
ing young woman at the door. She seemed to want 

to laugh; and well she 
might, for Franklin 
appeared like a youth- 
ful tramp who had been 
robbing a baker's shop. 
The young woman was 
Miss Deborah 1 Read. A 
number of years later 
Franklin married her. 
He always said that he 
could not have got a 
better wife. 

Franklin kept on in 
his walk until he came 
to the Delaware. He 
took a hearty drink of 
river water to settle 
his breakfast, and then 
gave away the two rolls 
he had under his arm 
to a poor woman with 
a child. On his way 
back from the river, 
he followed a number 
of people to a Quaker meeting-house. At the meeting 
no one spoke. Franklin was tired out, and, not having 
any preacher to keep him awake, he soon fell asleep, and 

I Deborah (Deb'o-rah). 




Franklin's First Day in Philadelphia 



BENJAMIN FRANKLIN 



95 



slept till the meeting was over. He says, "This was 
the first house I was in, or slept in, in Philadelphia." 

114. Franklin finds work; he goes back to Boston on a 
visit ; he learns to stoop. — The next day the young man 
found some work in a printing office. Six months after- 
ward he decided to go back to Boston to see his friends. 
He started on his journey with a good suit of clothes, 
a silver watch, and a 
well-filled purse. 

While in^ Boston, 
Franklin went to call 
on a minister who 
had written a little 
book^ which he had 
been very fond of 
reading. As he was 
coming away from the 
minister's house, he 
had to go through 
a low passage-way 
under a large beam. 
"Stoop! stoop! "cried 
out the gentleman ; but Franklin did not understand him, 
and so hit his head a sharp knock against the beam. 
" Ah," said his friend, as he saw him rubbing his head, 
" you are young, and have the world before you ; stoop 
as you go through it, and you will miss many hard 
thumps." Franklin says that this sensible advice, which 
was thus beat into his head, was of great use afterward ; 
in fact, he learned then how to stoop to conquer. 




Stoop I Stoop ! 



i The name of this book, written by the Rev. Cotton Mather, was Essays to 
do Good. 



96 THE BEGINNER'S AMERICAN HISTORY 

115. Franklin returns to Philadelphia ; he goes to London ; 
water against beer. — Franklin soon went back to Phila- 
delphia. The governor of Pennsylvania then persuaded 
him to go to London, telling him that he would help him 
to get a printing-press and type to start a newspaper in 
Philadelphia. 

When Franklin reached London, he found that the 
governor was one of those men who promise great 
things, but do nothing. Instead of buying a press, 
Franklin had to go to work in a printing office to earn 
his bread. He stayed in London more than a year. 
At the office where he worked, the men were great 
beer drinkers. One of his companions bought six pints 
a day. He began with a pint before breakfast ; then 
took another pint at breakfast ; then a pint between 
breakfast and dinner ; then a pint at dinner ; then a 
pint in the afternoon; and, last of all, a pint after he 
had done work. Franklin drank nothing but water. 
The others laughed at him, and nicknamed him the 
"Water-American"; but, after a while, they had to 
confess that he was stronger than they were who drank 
so much strong beer. 

The fact was that Franklin could beat them, both at 
work and at play. When they went out for a bath in 
the Thames,^ they found that their " Water-American " 
could swim like a fish; and he so astonished them that 
a rich Londoner tried to persuade him to start a 
swimming school to teach his sons; but Franklin had 
stayed in England long enough, and he now decided to 
go back to Philadelphia. 

1 Thames (Terns). London, the largest city in the world, is situated on both 
sides of the river Thames, about fifty miles from its mouth. 



BENJAMIN FRANKLIN 97 

116. Franklin sets up his newspaper; " sawdust pudding." 

— After his return to America, Franklin labored so dili- 
gently that he was soon able to set up a newspaper of 
his own. He tried to make it a good one. But some 
people thought that he spoke his mind too freely. They 
complained of this to him, and gave him to understand 
that if he did not make his paper to please them, they 
would stop taking it or advertising in it. 

Franklin heard what they had to say, and then invited 
them all to come and have supper with him. They went, 
expecting a feast, but they found nothing on the table 
but two dishes of corn-meal mush and a big pitcher of 
cold water. That kind of mush was then eaten only by 
very poor people ; and because it was yellow and coarse, 
it was nicknamed " sawdust pudding." 

Franklin gave everybody a heaping plateful ; and then, 
filling his own, he made a hearty supper of it. The 
others tried to eat, but could not. After Franklin had 
finished his supper, he looked up and said quietly, " My 
friends, any one who can live on 'sawdust pudding' 
and cold water, as I can, does not need much help from 
others." After that, no one went to the young printer 
with complaints about his paper. Franklin, as we have 
seen,^ had learned to stoop ; but he certainly did not 
mean to go stooping through life. 

117. Franklin's plan of life ; what he did for Philadelphia. 

— Not many young men can see their own faults, but 
Franklin could see his. More than that, he tried hard 
to get rid of them. He kept a little book in which he 
wrote down his faults. If he wasted half an hour of 
time or a shilling of money, or said anything that he 

1 See page 95. 



98 THE BEGINNER'S AMERICAN HISTORY 

had better not have said, he wrote it down in his book. 
He carried that book in his pocket all his life, and he 
studied it as a boy at school studies a hard lesson. By 
it, he learned three things, — first, to do the right thing ; 
next, to do it at the right time ; last of all, to do it in 
the righi way. 

As he was never tired of helping himself to get 
upward and onward, so, too, he was never tired of help- 
ing others. He started the first public library in Phila- 
delphia, which was also the first in America. He set 
on foot the first fire-engine company and the first mili- 
tary company in that city. He got the people to pave 
the muddy streets with stone ; he helped to build the 
first academy, — now called the University of Pennsyl- 
vania, — and he also helped to build the first hospital. 

118. Franklin's experiments^ with electricity; the wonder- 
ful bottle ; the picture of the king of England. — While doing 
these things and publishing his paper besides, Franklin 
found time to make experiments with electricity. Very 
little was then known about this wonderful power ; but a 
Dutchman, living in the city of Leyden^ in Holland, 
had discovered a way of bottling it up in what is called 
a Leyden Jar. Franklin had one of these jars, and he 
was never tired of seeing what new and strange thing 
he could do with it. 

He contrived a picture of the king of England with 
a movable gilt crown on his head. Then he connected 
the crown by a long wire with the Leyden jar. When 

1 Experiments : here an experiment is a trial made to discover something 
unknown. Franklin made these experiments, or trials, with electricity and with 
thunder clouds in order to find out what he could about them. 

2 Leyden (Ll'den) ; see map on page 44. 



BENJAMIN FRANKLIN 



99 



he wanted some fun, he would dare any one to go up 
to the picture and take off the king's crown. Why, 
that 's easy enough, a man would say ; and would 
walk up and seize the crown. But no sooner had he 

touched it than he 
would get an elec- 
tric shock which 
would make his 
fingers tingle as 
they never tingled 
before. With a 
loud Oh ! Oh ! he 
would let go of the 
crown, and start 
back in utter 
astonishment, not 
knowing what had 
hurt him. 

119. The electrical 
kite. — But Franklin's 
greatest experiment 
was made one day in 
sober earnest, with a 
kite. He believed that 
the electricity in the bottle, or Leyden jar, was the same 
thing as the lightning we see in a thunderstorm. He 
knew well enough how to get an electric spark from 
the jar, for with such a spark he had once killed a 
turkey for dinner ; but how could he get a spark from 
a cloud in the sky ? 

He thought about it for a long time ; then he made a 
kite out of a silk handkerchief, and fastened a sharp iron 




lOO THE BEGINNER'S AMERICAN HISTORY 

point to the upright stick of the kite. One day, when 
a thunderstorm was seen coming up, FrankHn and his 
son went out to the fields. The kite was raised ; then 
Franklin tied an iron key to the lower end of the string. 
After waiting some time, he saw the little hair-like 
threads of the string begin to stand up like the bristles 
of a brush. He felt certain that the electricity was com- 
ing down the string. He put his knuckle close to the 
key and a spark flew out. Next, he took his Leyden 
jar and collected the electricity in that. He had made 
two great discoveries, for he had found out that elec- 
tricity and lightning are the same thing ; and he had 
also found how to fill his bottle directly from the clouds : 
that was something that no one had ever done before. 

120. Franklin invents the lightning-rod ; Doctor Franklin. 
— But Franklin did not stop at that. He said, If I can 
draw down electricity from the sky with a kite-string, I 
can draw it still better with a tall, sharp-pointed iron rod. 
He put up such a rod on his house in Philadelphia ; it 
was the first lightning-rod in the world. Soon other 
people began to put them up : so this was another gift 
of his to the city which he loved. Every good lightning- 
rod which has since been erected to protect buildings 
has been, in some degree, a copy of that invented by 
Franklin. 

People now began to talk, not only in this country 
but in Europe, about his electrical experiments and dis- 
coveries. The oldest college in Scotland ^ gave him a title 
of honor and called him Doctor, — a word which means 
a learned man. From this time Franklin the printer was 
no longer plain Mr. Franklin, but Dr. Franklin. 

1 The University of St. Andrews. 



BENJAMIN FRANKLIN 



lOI 




Dr. Franklin did not think that he had found out all 
that could be found out about electricity ; he believed 
that he had simply made a beginning, and that other men 

would discover still greater things that 
could be done with it. Do you think 
he was mistaken about that ? 

121. Franklin in the Revolutionary 
War ; Franklin and the map of the United 
States. — When the war of the Revo- 
lution broke out, Dr. Franklin did a 
great work for his country. He did 
not fight battles like Washington, but 
he did something just as useful. First, 
he helped write the Declaration of 
Independence, by which we declared 
ourselves free from the rule of the 
king of England ; next, he went to 
France to get aid for us. We were 
then too poor to pay our soldiers ; he got the king of 
France to let us have money 
to give them. 

Franklin lived to see the 
Revolution ended and Amer- 
ica free. When he died, full 
of years and of honors, he 
was buried in Philadelphia, 
Twenty thousand people went 
to his funeral. 

If you wish to see what tlie 
country thinks of him, you 
have only to look at a large map of the United 
States, and count up how many times you find his 



Franklin's Cane and 
Washington's Revo- 
lutionary Sword 

(Preserved in the Patent 
Office, Washington.) 




Franklin's Grave in Christ 

Church Burial-Ground, 

Philadelphia 



I02 THE BEGINNER'S AMERICAN HISTORY 

name on it. You will find that more than two hundred 
counties and towns are called FRANKLIN. 

122. Summary. — Benjamin Franklin was bom in 
Boston nearly two hundred years ago. He went to 
Philadelphia when he was seventeen. He started a 
newspaper there, opened the first public library, and did 
many other things to help the city. He discovered that 
lightning and electricity are the same thing, and he 
invented the lightning-rod to protect buildings. In the 
Revolution, he got large sums of money from the king 
of France to pay our soldiers and to help Washington 
fight the battles which ended in making America free. 

What had Philadelphia grown to be by 1733? Who did a great 
deal for Philadelphia ? Tell what you can about Franklin's newspaper. 
What else did he publish .'' What sayings did he print in his almanac ? 
What saying of Solomon's did Franklin's father use to repeat to him ? 
Did he ever stand in the presence of any kings ? Tell what you can 
about Franklin as a boy. Where did he live.' What did he do? 
How did he save money to buy books ? Why did he run away ? 
Where did he go ? Tell what you can about Franklin's landing in 
Philadelphia. How did Frankhn look to Miss Read ? Where did 
Franklin find work .'' What happened to him when he went back to 
Boston on a visit? Why did Franklin go to London? What did he 
do there? What did they nickname him in the printing office? What 
did Franklin do after he returned to Philadelphia ? Tell the story of 
the "sawdust pudding." Tell about Franklin's plan of life. What did 
he do for Philadelphia ? What experiments did Franklin make ? What 
about the picture of the king ? Tell the story of the kite. What two 
things did he find out by means of this kite ? What did he invent ? 
What title did a college in Scotland now give him ? Did Franklin 
think that anything more would be discovered about electricity? What 
two things did Franklin do in the Revolution ? What is said of his 
funeral ? How many counties and towns in the United States are now 
called by his name? 




'Yankee Doodle" or The Spirit of '76 



I 



GEORGE WASHINGTON IO3 

XIV. GEORGE WASHINGTON 

(1732-1799) 

123. A Virginia boy ; what he became ; what he learned 
at school; his writing-books. — In 1 732, when Franklin was 
at work on his newspaper, a boy was born on a planta- 
tion ^ in Virginia who was one day to stand higher even 
than the Philadelphia printer. 

That boy when he grew up was to be chosen leader of 
the armies of the Revolution ; he was to be elected the 
first president of the United States ; and before he died 
he was to be known and honored all over the world. 
The name of that boy was George Washington. 

Washington's father died when George was only 
eleven years old, leaving him, with his brothers and sisters, 



Washington's Signature at the Age of Twelve "^ 



/ ' / 



to the care of a most excellent and sensible mother. 
It was that mother's influence, more than anything else, 
which made George the man he became, 

1 George Washington was bom on a plantation (or farm cultivated by slaves) 
on Bridges Creek, a small stream emptying into the Potomac. See map, page 106. 
Not long after George's birth (February 22, 1732), his father moved to an estate 
on the Rappahannock River, opposite Fredericksburg. See map, page 106, for 
this place and Mount Vernon. 2 See Note on page 279. 



104 THE BEGINNER'S AMERICAN HISTORY 

George went to a little country school, where he learned 
to read, write, and cipher. By the time he was twelve, he 
could write a clear, bold hand. In one of his writing-books 
he copied many good rules or sayings. Here is one : 

124. Washington's sports 

and games ; playing at war ; LU to -^^ Jj^ -^ uoun totodt 
" Captain George." — But ^ 

young Washington was ^W. jSms. sJpwvh o^ uWxoI ^ 

not^ always copying good ,^^^j^ ajn«cU;n«i..i 
sayings ; for he was a tall, 

strong boy, fond of all outdoor sports and games. He 
was a well-meaning boy ; but he had a hot temper, and 
at times his blue eyes flashed fire. In all trials of 
strength and in all deeds of daring, George took the 
lead ; he could run faster, jump further, and throw a 
stone higher than any one else in the school. 

When the boys played " soldier," they liked to have 
" Captain George " as commander. When he drew his 
wooden sword, and shouted Come on ! they would all 
rush into battle with a wild hurrah. Years afterward, 
when the real war came, and George Washington drew 
his sword in earnest, some of his school companions 
may have fought under their old leader. 

125. The great battle with the colt, and what came of it. — 
Once, however, Washington had a battle of a different 
kind. It was with a high-spirited colt which belonged 
to his mother. Nobody had ever been able to do any- 
thing with that colt, and most people were afraid of him. 
Early one morning, George and some of his brothers 
were out in the pasture. George looked at the colt 
prancing about and kicking up his heels. Then he said, 

1 Celestial : heavenly, divine. 



GEORGE WASHINGTON 



105 




" Boys, if you '11 help me put a bridle on him, I '11 ride 
him." The boys managed to get the colt into a corner 
and to slip on the bridle. With a leap, George seated 

himself firmly on his 
back. Then the fun 
began. The colt, wild 
with rage, ran, jumped, 
plunged, and reared 
straight up on his hind 
legs, hoping to throw 
his rider off. It was 
all useless ; he might 
as well have tried to 
throw off his own skin, 
for the boy stuck to 
his back as though he had grown there. Then, making 
a last desperate bound into the air, the animal burst a 
blood vessel and fell dead. The battle was over, George 
was victor, but it had cost the life of Mrs. Washington's 
favorite colt. 

When the boys went in to 
breakfast, their mother, know- 
ing that they had just come 
from the pasture, asked how the 
colt was getting on. "He is 
dead, madam," said George; "I 
killed him." " Dead ! " exclaimed 
his mother. "Yes, madam, dead," 
replied her son. Then he told her just how it happened. 
When Mrs. Washington heard the story, her face 
flushed with anger. Then, waiting a moment, she 
looked steadily at George, and said quietly, " While I 




The Stone marking Wash- 
ington's Birthplace 
(The house is no longer standing.) 



I06 THE BEGINNER'S AMERICAN HISTORY 

regret the loss of my favorite, I rejoice in my son, 
who always speaks the truth." 

126. Washington goes on a visit to Mount Vernon ; he makes 
the acquaintance of Lord Fairfax. — George's eldest brother, 
Lawrence Washington, had married the daughter of a 
gentleman named Fairfax,^ who lived on the banks of 
the Potomac. Lawrence had a fine estate a few miles 
above, on the same river ; he called his place Mount 
Vernon. When he was fourteen, George went to Mount 
Vernon to visit his brother. 

Lawrence Washington took George down the river to 
call on the Fairfaxes. There the lad made the acquaint- 
ance of Lord Fairfax, an English nobleman who had 
come over from London. He owned an immense piece 
of land in Virginia. Lord Fairfax and George soon 
became great friends. He was a gray-haired man nearly 
sixty, but he enjoyed having this boy of fourteen as a 
companion. They spent weeks together on horseback 
in the fields and woods, hunting deer and foxes. 

127. Lord Fairfax hires Washington to survey ^ his land ; 
how Washington lived in the woods ; the Indian war-dance. — 
Lord Fairfax's land extended westward more than a hun- 
dred miles. It had never been very carefully surveyed ; 
and he was told that settlers were moving in beyond the 
Blue Ridge Mountains,^ and were building log cabins on 
his property without asking leave. By the time Wash- 
ington was sixteen, he had learned surveying ; and so 
Lord Fairfax hired him to measure his land for him. 



1 Fairfax : this was the Hon. William Fairfax ; he was cousin to Lord Fair- 
fax, and he had the care of Lord Fairfax's land. 

2 Survey : to find out the form, size, and position of a piece of land by iceasur= 
ing it in certain ways. ^ See map on opposite page. 




Map iLLUsTivATiNG Washington's Early Life 



GEORGE WASHINGTON 



107 



Washington was glad to undertake the work; for he 
needed the money, and he could earn in this way from 
five to ten dollars a day. 

Early in the spring, Washington, in company with 
another young man, started off, on foot, to do this busi- 
ness. They crossed the Blue Ridge Mountains, and 
entered the Val- 
ley of Virginia, 
one of the most 
beautiful valleys 
in America. 

The two young 
men would work 
all day in the 
woods, with a long 
chain, measuring 
the land. When 
evening came, 
Wa s h in g t o n 
would make a 
map of what they 
had measured. 
Then they would 
wrap themselves 
up in their blankets, stretch themselves on the ground at 
the foot of a tree, and go to sleep under the stars. 

Every day they shot some game, — squirrels or wild 
turkeys, or perhaps a deer. They kindled a fire with 
flint and steel,^ and roasted the meat on sticks held over 
the coals. For plates they had clean chips ; and as clean 
chips could always be got by a few blows with an axe, 

1 Flint and steel- see picture on page 62. 




Washington sees an Indian War-Dance 



I08 THE BEGINNER'S AMERICAN HISTORY 

they never washed any dishes, but just threw them away, 
and had a new set for each meal. 

While in the valley they met a band of Indians, who 
stopped and danced a war-dance for them. The music 
was not remarkable, — for most of it was made by drum- 
ming on a deerskin stretched across the top of an old 
iron pot, — but the dancing could not be beat. The 
savages leaped into the air, swung their hatchets, gashed 
the trees, and yelled till the woods rang. 

When Washington returned from his surveying trip. 
Lord Fairfax was greatly pleased with his work ; and 
the governor of Virginia made him one of the public 
surveyors. By this means he was able to get work 
which paid him handsomely. 

128. Washington at the age of twenty-one ; the French in 
the west ; the governor of Virginia sends Washington to see 
the French commander. — By the time Washington was 
twenty-one he had grown to be over six feet in height. 
He was as straight as an arrow and as tough as a whip- 
lash. He had keen blue eyes that seemed to look into 
the very heart of things, and his fist was like a black- 
smith's sledge-hammer. He knew all about the woods, 
all about Indians, and he could take care of himself 
anywhere. 

At this time the English settlers held the country along 
the seashore as far back as the Alleghany Mountains. ^ 
West of those mountains the French from Canada were 
trying to get possession of the land. They had made 
friends with many of the Indians ; and, with their help, 
they hoped to be able to drive out the English and get 
the whole country for themselves. 

1 Alleghany (Al-le-ga'ni) : see map, page io6. (It is also spelled Allegheny.) 



GEORGE WASHINGTON IO9 

In order to hold this land in the west, the French had 
built several forts ^ south of Lake Erie ; and they were 
getting ready to build some on the Ohio River. The 
governor of Virginia was determined to put a stop to 
this. He had given young Washington the military title 
of major ^; he now sent Major Washington to see the 
French commander at one of the forts near Lake Erie. 
Washington was to tell the Frenchman that he had built 
his forts on land belonging to the English, and that he 
and his men must either leave or fight. 

Major Washington dressed himself like an Indian, and 
attended by several friendly Indians and by a white man 
named Gist,^ who knew the country well, he set out on 
his journey through what was called the Great Woods. 

The entire distance to the farthest fort and back was 
about a thousand miles. Washington could go on horse- 
back part of the way, but there were no regular roads, 
and he had to climb mountains and swim rivers. After 
several weeks' travel, he reached the fort ; but the French 
commander refused to give up the land. He said that 
he and his men had come to stay, and that if the English 
did not like it they must fight. 

129. The journey back ; the Indian guide ; how Washington 
found his way through the woods ; the adventure with the raft. 
— On the way back, Washington had to leave his horses 
and come on foot with Gist and an Indian guide sent 
from the fort. This Indian guide was in the pay of the 
French, and he intended to murder Washington in the 
woods. One day he shot at him from behind a tree, but, 



1 Forts: see map, page 106. 

2 Major (ma'jer) : an officer in the army next above a captain, but below a 
colonel. 3 Gist (Jist). 



no THE BEGINNER'S AMERICAN HISTORY 

luckily, did not hit him. Then Washington and Gist 
managed to get away from him, and set out to go back 
to Virginia by themselves. There were no paths through 
the thick forest ; but Washington had his compass ^ with 
him, and with that he could find his way just as the cap- 
tain of a ship finds his at sea. When they reached the 
Alleghany River, they found it full of floating ice. They 
worked all day and made a raft of logs. As they were 
pushing their way across with poles, Washington's pole 
was struck by a big piece of ice which he says jerked 
him out into water ten feet deep. At length the two 
men managed to get to a little island, but as there was 
no wood on it, they could not make a fire. The weather 
was bitterly cold, and Washington, who was soaked to 
the skin, had to take his choice between walking about 
all night, or trying to sleep on the frozen ground in his 
wet clothes. 

130. Major Washington becomes Colonel Washington ; Fort 
Necessity; Braddock's defeat. — When Major Washington 
got back to Virginia, the governor made him a colonel.^ 
With a hundred and fifty men. Colonel Washington was 
ordered to set out for the west. He was to "make 
prisoners, kill or destroy," all Frenchmen who should 
try to get possession of land on the Ohio River. He 
built a small log fort, which he named Fort Necessity.^ 
Here the French attacked him. They had five men to 
his one. Colonel Washington fought like a man who 
liked to hear the bullets whistle past his ears, — as he 
said he did, — but in the end he had to give up the 
fort. 

^ Compass : see page 30. 2 Colonel : see note on page 70. 

8 Fort Necessity : see map, page 106. 



GEORGE WASHINGTON 



III 



Then General Braddock, a noted English soldier, was 
sent over to Virginia, by the king, to drive the French 
out of the country. He started with a fine army, and 
Washington went with him.^ He told General Brad- 
dock that the French and the Indians would hide in the 




Braddock's Defeat 



woods and fire at his men from behind trees. But 
Braddock paid no attention to the warning. On his 
way through the forest, the brave English general was 
suddenly struck down by the enemy; half of his army 
were killed or wounded, and the rest put to flight. 

1 See map of Braddock's march, page io6. 



112 THE BEGINNER'S AMERICAN HISTORY 

Washington had two horses shot under him, and four 
bullets went through his coat. It was a narrow escape 
for the young man. One of those who fought in the 
battle said, " I expected every moment to see him fall," 

— but he was to live for greater work. 

131. End of the war with the French ; what the king of 
England wanted to do ; how the people here felt toward him. 

— The war with the French lasted a number of years. 
It ended by the English getting possession of the whole 
of America from the Atlantic Ocean to the Mississippi 
River. All this part of America was ruled by George 
the Third, king of England. The king now determined 
to send over more soldiers, and to keep them here to 
prevent the French in Canada from trying to get back 
the country they had lost. He wanted the people here 
in the thirteen colonies ^ to pay the cost of keeping 
these soldiers. But this the people were not willing 
to do, because they felt that they were able to protect 
themselves without help of any kind. Then the king 
said. If the Americans will not give the money, I will 
take it from them by force, — for pay it they must and 
shall. This was more than the king would have dared 
say about England ; for there, if he wanted money to 
spend on his army, he had to ask the people for it, 
and they could give it or not, as they thought best. 
The Americans said, We have the same rights as our 
brothers in England, and the king cannot force us to 
give a single copper against our will. If he tries to 
take it from us, we will fight. Some of the greatest 
men in England agreed with us, and said that they 
would fight, too, if they were in our place. 

1 Thirteen colonies : see note on page 84. 



GEORGE WASHINGTON 



113 



T32. The king determines to have the money ; the tea-ships, 
and the " Boston tea-party." — But George the Third thought 
that the Americans did not mean what they said. He 
tried to make them pay the money, but they would not. 
From Maine to Georgia all the people were of one mind. 
Then the king tried a different way. Quantities of tea 




The Boston "Tea-Party" 



were sent over to New York, Boston, Philadelphia, Charles- 
ton, and Annapolis. If the tea should be landed and sold, 
then every man who bought a pound of it would have 
to pay six cents more than the regular price. That six 
cents was a tax, and it went into the king's pocket. The 
people said, We won't pay that six cents. When the 
tea reached New York the citizens sent it back again to 



114 THE BEGINNER'S AMERICAN HISTORY 

England. They did the same thing at Philadelphia. At 
Charleston the tea was landed, but it was stored in damp 
cellars. People would not buy any of it any more than 
they would buy so much poison, so it all rotted and 
spoiled. At Annapolis the citizens forced the owner of 
the tea-ship Peggy Stewart to burn his vessel, tea and all. 
At Boston they had a grand "tea-party." A number of 
men dressed themselves up like Indians, went on board the 
tea-ships at night, broke open the chests, and emptied the 
tea into the harbor. 

133. The king closes the port of Boston ; Congress meets at 
Philadelphia ; the names American and British ; what General 
Gage tried to do. — This act of the Bostonians made the 
king terribly angry, and orders were given to close the 
port of Boston so that no ships, except the king's war- 
ships, should come in or go out. Nearly all trade stopped 
in the city. Many of the inhabitants began to suffer for 
want of food, but throughout the colonies the people tried 
their best to help them. The New England towns sent 
droves of sheep and cattle. New York sent wheat, South 
Carolina gave two hundred barrels of rice ; the other 
colonies gave liberally in money and provisions. Even 
in England much sympathy was felt for the distressed 
people of Boston, and in London a large sum of money 
was raised to help those whom the king was determined 
to starve into submission.^ 

The colonies now sent some of their best men to 
Philadelphia to consider what should be done. As this 
meeting was made up of those who had come from all 

1 when the news reached Virginia that the king of England had determined 
to close the port of Boston, many people began to talk of taking up arms to 
defend the rights of the colonists. Washington said little ; but he went to 
church, and fasted all day. 




Paul Revere' s Ride 



i 



GEORGE WASHINGTON II5 

parts of the country, it took the name of the General or 
Continental Congress.^ 

About this time, too, a great change took place ; for 
the people throughout the country began to call them- 
selves Americans, and to speak of the English troops 
that the king sent over here, as British soldiers. 

In Boston, General Gage had command of these sol- 
diers. He knew that the Americans were getting ready 
to fight, and that they had stored up powder and ball at 
Concord,^ about twenty miles from Boston. One night 
he secretly sent out a lot of soldiers to march to Con- 
cord and destroy what they found there. 

134. Paul Revere^; the fight at Lexington and Concord; 
Bunker Hill. — But Paul Revere, a Boston man, was on 
the watch ; and as soon as he found out which way the 
British were going, he set off at a gallop for Lexington, 
on the road to Concord. All the way out, he roused 
people from their sleep, with the cry, " The British are 
coming ! " 

When the king's soldiers reached Lexington, they 
found the Americans, under Captain Parker, ready for 
them. Captain Parker said to his men, " Don't fire 
unless you are fired on ; but if they want a war, let it 
begin here'' The fighting did begin there, April 19, 
1775 ; and when the British left the town on their way 
to Concord, seven Americans lay dead on the grass in 



1 Congress : this word means a meeting or assembly of persons. The General 
or Continental Congress was an assembly of certain persons sent usually by all 
of the thirteen American colonies to meet at Philadelphia or Baltimore, to 
decide what should be done by the whole country. The first Congress met in 
1774, or shortly before the Revolution began, and after that from time to time 
until near the close of the Revolution. 

* Concord (Conlcurd). 8 Revere (Re-veer^. 



ii6 



THE BEGINNER'S AMERICAN HISTORY 



front of the village church. At Concord, that same day, 
there was still harder fighting ; and on the way back to 
Boston, a large number of the British were killed. 

Not quite two months later, June 17, 1775, a battle 
was fought on Bunker Hill in Charlestown, just outside 
of Boston. General Gage thought the Yankees would n't 




Washington at Mount Vernon 



fight ; but they did fight, in a way that General Gage 
never forgot ; and though they had at last to retreat 
because their powder gave out, yet the British lost more 
than a thousand men. The contest at Bunker Hill was 
the first great battle of the Revolution ; that is, of that 
war which overturned the British power in America, 
and made us a free people. Many Englishmen thought 
the king was wrong. They would not fight against us, 




The Northern States in the Revolution 



GEORGE WASHINGTON 



117 



and he was obliged to hire a large number of German 
soldiers to send to America. These Germans had to 
fight us, whether they wanted to or not, for their king 
forced them to come. 

135. Colonel Washington at Mount Vernon ; Congress makes 
him General "Washington, and sends him to take command of the 
American army. — At the time the battle of Bunker Hill 






Washington taking Command of the American Army at Cambridge 



was fought, Colonel George Washington was living very 
quietly at Mount Vernon. His brother Lawrence had 
died, and Mount Vernon was now his home. Wash- 
ington was very well off ; he had a fine estate and plenty 
of slaves to do the work on it ; but when he died, many 



Il8 THE BEGINNER'S AMERICAN HISTORY 

years later, he took good care to leave orders that all 
of his slaves should be set free as soon as it could be 
done. 

Congress now made Colonel Washington general-in- 
chief of all the forces and sent him to Cambridge, a 
town just outside of Boston, to take command of the 
American army. It was called the Continental Army 
because it was raised, not to fight for the people of 
Massachusetts, but for all the Americans on the con- 
tinent, north and south, Washington took command 
of the army under a great elm on what was then 
the Common.i Six months later he raised the first 
American flag over the camp at Cambridge.^ 

136. American sharpshooters ^ ; Washington's need of cannon 
and powder ; the attack on Canada ; the British driven out of 
Boston. — Men now came from all parts of the country 
to join the Continental Army. Many of them were 
sharpshooters. In one case an officer set up a board 
with the figure of a man's nose chalked on it, for a 
mark. A hundred men fired at it at long distance, and 
sixty hit the nose. The newspapers gave them great 
praise for their skill and said, "Now, General Gage, 
look out for yo7ir nose." 

Washington wanted to drive General Gage and the 
British soldiers out of Boston ; but for months he could 
not get either cannon or powder. Benjamin Franklin 



1 A stone slab marks what is generally believed to be the " Washington Elm." 
The elm stands not far from the Memorial Hall of Harvard University. On the 
slab is this inscription : " Under this tree Washington first took command of the 
American Army, July 3, 1775." 

2 See a picture of this and the other flags of the Revolution on page 126. 

3 Sharpshooters : men who can fire and hit a small mark with a bullet at a 
long distance. 



GEORGE WASHINGTON 



119 



said that we should have to fight as the Indians used 
to, with bows and arrows. 

While Washington was waiting, a number of Ameri- 
cans marched against the British in Canada ; but the 
cold weather came on, and they nearly starved to death : 
our men would sometimes take off their moccasins ^ and 







"Now, General Gage, look out for your Nose' 



gnaw them, while they danced in the snow to keep their 
bare feet from freezing. 

At last Washington got both cannon and powder. 
He dragged the cannon up to the top of some high 
land overlooking Boston harbor.^ He then sent word 
to General Howe (for Gage had gone), that if he did 
not leave Boston he would knock his ships to pieces. 
The British saw that they could not help themselves, 

1 Moccasins (niok'ka-sins) : Indian shoes made of deerskin. 
' Dorchester Heights, in what is now South Boston. 



I20 



THE BEGINNER'S AMERICAN HISTORY 



SO they made haste to get on board their vessels and 
sail away. They never came back to Boston again, 
but went to New York. 

137. The Declaration of Independence ; " Down with the 
king I " Washington is driven from New York and across the I 

Delaware River. — 



Washington got to 
New York first. 
While he was 
there, Congress,^ 
on the 4th of July, 
1776, declared the 
United States inde- 
pendent, — that is, 
entirely free from 
the rule of the king 
of England. In 
New York there 
was a gilded lead 

'JI'ChsS TFJS^T^^^^^^^ statue of King 

?jte,^-^ *^BiT. '' ^ ''«- George the Third on 

horseback. When the news 
of what Congress had done 
reached that city, the cry 
rose: "Down with the 
king ! " That night some of 

our men pulled down the statue, melted it up, and cast 

it into bullets. 

The next month there was a battle on Long Island,^ 

just across from New York City; the British gained the 

1 Congress ; see note on page 115. 

2 See map, page 1 16. 




" Down with the KingI " 



GEORGE WASHINGTON 121 

victory. Washington had to leave New York, and Lord 
Cornwallis/ one of the British generals, chased him and 
his little army clear across the state of New Jersey. It 
looked at one time as though our men would all be taken 
prisoners ; but Washington managed to seize a lot of 
small boats on the Delaware River ^ and get across into 
Pennsylvania: as the British had no boats, they could 
not follow. 

138. Washington's victory at Trenton, New Jersey. — 
Lord Cornwallis left fifteen hundred German soldiers^ 
at Trenton on the Delaware. He intended, as soon as 
the river froze over, to cross on the ice and attack 
Washington's army. But Washington did not wait 
for him. On Christmas night (1776) he took a large 
number of boats, filled them with soldiers, and secretly 
crossed over to New Jersey.* The weather was intensely 
cold, the river was full of floating ice, and a furious 
snowstorm set in. Many of our men were ragged and 
had only old, broken shoes. They suffered terribly, and 
two of them were frozen to death. 

The Germans at Trenton had been having a jolly 
Christmas, and had gone to bed, suspecting no danger. 
Suddenly Washington, with his men, rushed into the 
little town and captured a thousand German soldiers. 
It was all done so quickly that the men found them- 
selves prisoners almost before they knew what had 
happened. The rest of the Germans escaped to tell 
Lord Cornwallis how the Americans had beaten them. 
When Washington was driven out of New York, many 
Americans thought he would be captured. Now they 

1 Cornwallis (Com-wall'is). 8 German soldiers; see page 117 

2 See map, page 116. * See map, page 116. 



122 THE BEGINNER'S AMERICAN HISTORY 

were filled with joy. The battle of Trenton was the 
first battle won by the Continental Army. 

139. Our victory at Princeton, New Jersey ; the British take 
Philadelphia ; winter at Valley Forge ; Burgoyne beaten ; the 
king of France agrees to help us. — Washington took his 
thousand prisoners over into Pennsylvania. A few days 
later he again crossed the Delaware into New Jersey. 
While Cornwallis was fast asleep in his tent, Washington 
slipped around him, got to Princeton,^ and there beat a 
part of the British army. Cornwallis woke up and heard 
Washington's cannon. "That 's thunder," he said. He 
was right ; it was the -thunder of another American victory. 

But before the next winter set in, the British had taken 
the city of Philadelphia, then the capital of the United 
States. Washington's army was freezing and starving 
on the hillsides of Valley Forge,^ about twenty miles 
northwest of Philadelphia. 

But good news was coming. The Americans had won 
a great victory at Saratoga, New York,^ over the British 
general, Burgoyne.* Dr. Franklin was then in Paris. 
When he heard that Burgoyne was beaten, he hurried 
off to the palace of the French king to tell him about 
it. The king of France hated the British, and he agreed 
to send money, ships, and soldiers to help us. When 
our men, at Valley Forge, heard the news, they leaped 
and hurrahed for joy. Not long after that the British 
left Philadelphia, and we entered it in triumph. 

140. The war at the south ; Jasper ; Cowpens ; Greene and 
Cornwallis. — While these things were happening at the 

1 Princeton ; see map, page 1 16. 

2 Valley Forge; see map, page ii6. 

3 Saratoga (Sar-a-toe'gah) ; see map, page ri6. 

* Burgoyne (Bur-goin'). 



GEORGE WASHINGTON 



123 



north, the British sent a fleet of vessels to take Charles- 
ton, South Carolina. They hammered away with their 
big guns at a little log fort under command of Colonel 
Moultrie.^ In the battle, a cannon-ball struck the flag- 
pole on the fort, and cut it in two. The South Carolina 
flag fell to the ground outside the fort. Sergeant ^ 
William Jasper leaped down, and, while the British shot 




Valley Forge 



were striking all around him, seized the flag, climbed 
back, fastened it to a short staff, and raised it to its 
place, to show that the Americans would never give up 
the fort. The British, after fighting all day, saw that they 
could do nothing against palmetto logs ^ when defended 

1 Moultrie (Mole' tree). 

2 Sergeant (sar'jent) : a military officer of low rank. 

3 Palmetto (pal-met'toe) logs : the wood of the palmetto tree is very soft and 
spongy ; the cannon-balls, when they struck, would bury themselves in the logs, 
but would neither break them to pieces nor go through them. 



124 



THE BEGINNER'S AMERICAN HISTORY 



by such men as Moultrie and Jasper ; so they sailed 

away with such of their ships as had not been destroyed. 

Several years later, Charleston was taken. Lord Corn- 

wallis then 
took command 
of the British 
army in South 
Carolina. Gen- 
eral Greene, 
of Rhode Is- 
land, had com- 
mand of the 
Americans. 
He sent Daniel 
Morgan with 
his sharpshoot- 
ers to meet 
part of the 
British army 
at Cowpens ^ ; 
they did meet 
them, and sent 
them flying. 
Then Corn 
wall is deter- 
mined to whip 
General 
Greene or 

drive him out of the state. But General Greene worried 
Cornwallis so that at last he was glad enough to get into 
Virginia. He had found North and South Carolina like 

1 Cowpens (Cow' pens) ; see map on opposite page. 




Sergeant Jasper and the Flag 




The Southern States in the Revolution 



GEORGE WASHINGTON 



125 



two hornets' nests, and the further he got away from 
those hornets, the better he was pleased. 

141. Cornwallis and Benedict Arnold ; Lafayette ; Com- 
wallis shuts himself up in Yorktown. — When Lord Corn- 
v/alHs got into Virginia, he found Benedict Arnold 
waiting to help him. Arnold had been a general in 
the American army ; Washington gave him the com- 
mand of the fort at West Point, on the Hudson River,^ 
and trusted him as though he was his brother. Arnold 
deceived him, and secretly offered to give up the fort to 
the British. We call a man who is false to his friends 
and to his country a traitor; it is the most shameful 
name we can fasten on him. Arnold was a traitor; and 
if we could have caught him, we should have hanged 
him; but he v/as cunning enough to run away and 
escape to the British. Now he was burning houses 
and towns in Virginia, and doing all that he could — as 
a traitor always will — to de- 
stroy those who had once 
been his best friends. He 
wanted to stay in Virginia 
and assist Cornwallis ; but 
that general was a brave and 
honorable man : he despised 
Arnold, and did not want to 
have anything to do with him. 

A young nobleman named 
Lafayette 2 had come over 
from France, on purpose to 
help us against the British. Cornwallis laughed at him 
and called him a "boy"; but he found that General 

1 West Point ; see ma.p, page 116. 2 Lafayette (Lah-fay-ef). 




Lafayette 



126 



THE BEGINNER'S AMERICAN HISTORY 



Lafayette was a " boy " who knew how to fight. The 
British commander moved toward the seacoast ; Lafayette 
followed him ; at length Cornwallis shut himself up with 
his army in Yorktown.^ 

142. "Washington marches against Yorktown, and takes it 
and the army of Cornwallis. — Washington, with his army, 
was then near New York City, watching the British 




The Flags of the Revolution'^ 



1 Yorktown ; see map, page 124. 

2 The flag with the large crosses on it, on the left, is the English flag at the 
time of the American Revolution. The flag on the right is that which Wash- 
ington raised at Cambridge, Massachusetts, January i, 1776. He simply took 
the English flag, and added thirteen stripes to represent the union of the thir- 
teen English colonies. The flag in the centre, with its thirteen stars and thir- 
teen stripes representing the thirteen states, is the first American national flag. 
It was adopted by Congress June 14, 1777, not quite a year after we had 
declared ourselves independent of Great Britain. Beneath this flag is Wash- 
ington's coat of arms with a Latin motto, rrieaning " The event justifies the 



GEORGE WASHINGTON I27 

there. The French king had done as he agreed, and 
had sent over war-ships and soldiers to help us; but so 
far they had never been able to do much. Now was 
the chance. Before the British knew what Washington 
was about, he had sent the French war-ships down to 
Yorktown to prevent Cornwallis from getting away by 
sea. Then, with his own army and a large number of 
French soldiers besides, Washington quickly marched 
south to attack Yorktown by land. 

When he got there he placed his cannon round the 
town, and began battering it to pieces. For more than 
a week he kept firing night and day. One house had 
over a thousand balls go through it. Its walls looked 
like a sieve. At last, Cornwallis could not hold out any 
longer, and on October 19, 1781, his army came out and 
gave themselves up as prisoners. 

The Americans formed a line more than a mile long 
on one side of the road, and the French stood facing 
them on the other side. The French had on gay 
clothes, and looked very handsome ; the clothes of 
Washington's men were patched and faded, but their 
eyes shone with a wonderful light — the light of vic- 
tory. The British marched out slowly, between the 
two lines : somehow they found it pleasanter to look 

deed." It is possible that the stars and stripes on our national flag came from 
the stars and stripes (or bars) on this ancient coat of arms, which may be seen 
on the tombstone of one of the Washington family, buried in 1583, in the parish 
church at Sulgrave, Northamptonshire, England. 

In 1794, in consequence of the admission of Vermont and Kentucky to the 
Union, Congress passed an act increasing the number of stars and stripes on 
the American flag from thirteen to fifteen. Later, it was found that if a stripe 
as well as a star should be added for each new state the flag would in time 
become too broad and unwieldy. For this reason Congress passed a law in 
iSiS reducing the number of stripes to thirteen, but ordering that on the admis- 
sion of each new state a star should be added. That law still remains in force. 



. i 



128 



THE BEGINNER'S AMERICAN HISTORY 



at the bright uniforms of the French than to look 

at the eyes of the Americans. 

143. How the news of the taking of Yorktown was carried 

to Philadelphia ; Lord Fairfax. , People at a distance no- 
ticed that the cannon 
had suddenly stopped 
firing. They looked at 
each other, and asked, 
" What does it mean .? " 
All at once a man ap- 
pears on horseback. 
He is riding with all 
his might toward Phila- 
delphia, where Con- 
gress is. As he dashes 
past, he rises in his 
stirrups, swings his cap, 
and shouts with all his 
might, "Cornwallis is 
taken ! Cornwallis is 
taken!" Then it was 
the people's turn to 
shout ; and they made 
the hills ring with, 
"Hurrah! hurrah! 
hurrah ! " 

Poor Lord Fairfax,^ 
Washington's old 
friend, had always 
stood by the king. He was now over ninety. When he 
heard the cry, " Cornwallis is taken ! " it was too much 

1 See page io6. 




■"Cornwallis is taken 



GEORGE WASHINGTON 



129 



for the old man. He said to his negro servant, " Come, 
Joe; carry me to bed, for I 'm sure it 's high time for 
me to die." 

144. Tearing down the British flag at New York ; Washing- 
ton goes back to Mount Vernon ; he is elected President ; his 

death ; Lafayette visits his tomb. 

— The Revolutionary War 
had lasted seven years, — ter- 
rible years they were, years of 
sorrow, suffering, and death, 

— but now the end had come, 
and America was free. When 
the British left New York 
City, they nailed the British 

flag to a high pole on 
the wharf; but a Yankee 
sailor soon climbed the 
pole, tore down the flag 
of England, and hoisted 
the stars and 
stripes in its place. 
That was more 
than a hundred 
years ago. Now 
the English and 
the Americans 
have become good 
friends, and the 
English people see clearly that the Revolution ended in 
the way that was best for both of us. 

When it was certain that there would be no more 
fighting, Washington went back to Mount Vernon. He 




Hoisting the Stars and Stripes at New York 



I30 



THE BEGINNER'S AMERICAN HISTORY 



^'SliKf'.csfcaiiiii ■ 



hoped to spend the rest of his life there. But the coun- 
try needed him, and a few years later it chose him the 
first President of the United States. 

Washington was made President in New York City, 
which was the capital of the United States at that time. 
A French gentleman, who was there, tells us how Wash- 
ington, standing in the presence of thousands of people, 
placed his hand on the Bible, and solemnly swore that 

with the help of God he 
would protect and defend the 
United States of America. 
Washington was elected 
President twice. When he 
died, many of the people in 
England and France joined 
America in mourning for 
him ; for all men honored 
his memory. 

Lafayette,^ the brave young Frenchman who fought 
for us in the Revolution, came over to visit us many 
years afterward. He went to Mount Vernon, where 
Washington was buried. There he went down into the 
vault,^ and, kneeling by the side of the coffin, covered 
his face with his hands, and shed tears of gratitude 
to think that he had known such a man as Washington, 
and that Washington had been his friend. 

145. Summary. — George Washington, the son of a 
Virginia planter, became the leader of the armies of the 




Lafayette at Washington's 
Tomb 



1 Lafayette, see page 125. 

2 This was the old family tomb or vault at Mount Vernon. It is quite near 
the house. Later, Washington's remains were carried to a new tomb which 
stands farther away from the house. 



GEORGE WASHINGTON 13I 

United States in the war of the Revolution. At the 
close of the war, after he had made America free, he 
was elected our first President. His name stands to-day 
among those of the greatest men in the history of the 
world. 

When and where was George Washington born ? What did he 
learn at school ? What did he write in one of his writing-books ? Tell 
about his sports and games at school. What is said of " Captain 
George"? Tell the story about the colt. What did George's mother 
say.'' Tell about George's visit to his brother and to the P'airfaxes. 
What is said of Lord Fairfax.'' What did he hire Washington to do .-' 
Tell about his surveying and his life in the woods. Tell about the 
Indian war-dance. What did the governor of Virginia do when Wash- 
ington returned.'' What is said of Washington at the age of twenty- 
one .'' Tell about his journey to the French forts and his return. What 
is said about the Indian guide.'' What is said about the raft.' What did 
the governor of Virginia do when Washington returned .'' What did the 
governor order him to do .'' What is said about Fort Necessity ? Tell 
about General Braddock, and about what happened to Washington. 
What is said about the end of the war? What did King George the 
Third determine to do? What did the king want the Americans to 
do? How did they feel? What did the king say? What did the 
Americans say to that ? What did some of the greatest men in Eng- 
land say? What did the king then try to do? Tell about the tea- 
ships. What happened in Boston ? What was done to Boston ? What 
help did the people of Boston get ? What did the colonies now do ? 
What did the people now begin to call themselves? What did they 
call the English troops ? 

Who commanded the British soldiers in Boston ? What did he do '' 
What about Paul Revere ? What did Captain Parker, of Lexington, 
say to his men ? What happened at Lexington and at Concord ? Tell 
about the battle of Bunker Hill. What did many Englishmen refuse 
to do? Where was Colonel Washington living? What did Congress 
do ? Where did Washington take command of the army ? Tell about 
the sharpshooters. Tell about the march to Canada. How did Wash- 
ington take Boston ? Where did the British go ? Where did Washing- 
ton go? What did Congress do on July 4, 1776? What happened 
in New York ? What is said about the battle of Long Island ? What 
did Cornwallis do? Tell about the victory at Trenton. What hap- 
pened at Princeton ? What city did the British take ? Where was 
Washington's army? What happened at Saratoga? What did the 
king of France do ? What happened at the south ? Tell about Ser- 
geant Jasper. What is said about General Greene? What did Corn- 
wallis do? Where did he go? What is said about Benedict Arnold? 
What is said about Lafayette? Where did Cornwallis shut himself up 
with his army? What did Washington do ? Tell about the surrender 



132 



THE BEGINNER'S AMERICAN HISTORY 



of Cornwallis. How was the news carried to Philadelphia ? What is 
said of Lord Fairfax ? How long had the war lasted ? What was 
done at New York? What is said of General Washington after the 
war? Tell how he was made President. What happened when he 
died ? What is said of Lafayette ? 



XV. DANIEL BOONE 



(1734-1820) 

146. Daniel Boone ; what the hunters of the west did ; 
Boone's life in North Carolina, — Before Washington began 
to fight the battles of the Revolution in the east, Daniel 

Boone and other famous 
hunters were fighting 
bears and Indians in 
what was then called 
the west.i By that war 
in the woods, these brave 
and hardy men helped 
us to get possession of 
that part of the country. 
Daniel Boone was born 
in Pennsylvania.^ His 
father moved to North 
Carolina, ^ and Daniel 
helped him cut down the 
trees round their log 
Boone pounding Corn cabin in the forest. He 

1 That is, the country west of the Alleghany Mountains and between those 
mountains and the Mississippi River. 

2 He was born in either Bucks or Berks County, Pennsylvania ; authorities 
do not agree on this point. 

3 He settled near Wilkesboro, on the banks of the Yadkin River; see map 
on page 1 36. 




DANIEL BOONE 



133 




ten- °f^ tK i s'i 




ploughed the land, which was thick with stumps, hoed 
the corn that grew up among those stumps, and then, — 
as there was no mill near, — he pounded it into meal 
for johnny-cake. He learned how to handle a gun quite 
as soon as he did a hoe. The unfortunate deer or coon 
that saw young Boone 
coming toward him, if 
he had only been bright 
enough, might have 
known that he had seen 
his best days, and that 
he would soon have the 
whole Boone family sit- 
ting round him at the 
dinner-table. 

147. Boone's wanderings 
in the western forests ; his 
bear tree. — When Daniel 
had grown to manhood, 
he wandered off with his 
gun on his shoulder, and, 
crossing the mountains, 
entered what is now the 
state of Tennessee. That 
whole country was then 
a wilderness, full of savage beasts and still more savage 
Indians ; and Boone had many a sharp fight with both. 

More than a hundred and forty years ago, he cut 
these words on a beech tree still standing in Eastern 
Tennessee,^ — " D. Boon killed a bar on this tree in 




Boone's Bear Tree 



1 The tree is said to be still standing on the banks of Boone's Creek, neat 
Jonesboro, W^ashington County, Tennessee. 



134 THE BEGINNER'S AMERICAN HISTORY 

the year 1760." You will see if you examine the tree, 
on which the words can still be read, that Boone could 
not spell very well ; but he could do what the bear 
minded a good deal more, — he could shoot to kill. 

148. Boone goes hunting in Kentucky ; what kind of game 
he found there ; the Indians ; the " Dark and Bloody Ground." 
— Nine years after he cut his name on that tree, Boone, 
with a few companions, went to a new part of the coun- 
try. The Indians called it Kentucky. There he saw 
buffalo, deer, bears, and wolves enough to satisfy the 
best hunter in America. 

This region was a kind of No Man's Land, because, 
though many tribes of Indians roamed over it, none 
of them pretended to own it. These bands of Indians 
were always fighting and trying to drive each other out, 
so Kentucky was often called the " Dark and Bloody 
Ground." But, much as the savages hated each other, 
they hated the white men, or the "pale-faces," as they 
called them, still more. 

149. Indian tricks ; the owls. — The hunters were on 
the lookout for these Indians, but the savages practised 
all kinds of tricks to get the hunters near enough to 
shoot them. Sometimes Boone would hear the gobble 
of a wild turkey. He would listen a moment, then he 
would say, That is not a wild turkey, but an Indian, 
imitating that bird ; but he won't fool me and get me to 
come near enough to put a bullet through my head. 

One evening an old hunter, on his way to his cabin, 
heard what seemed to be two young owls calling to each 
other. But his quick ear noticed that there was some- 
thing not quite natural in their calls, and, what was 
stranger still, that the owls seemed to be on the ground 



DANIEL BOONE 



135 



instead of being perched on trees, as all well-behaved 
owls would be. He crept cautiously along through the 
bushes till he saw something ahead which looked like 
a stump. He didn't altogether like the looks of the 
stump. He aimed 
his rifle at it, and 
fired. The stump, 
or what seemed to 
be one, fell over 
backward with a 
groan. He had 
killed an Indian, 
who had been wait- 
ing to kill him. 

150. Boone makes 
the "Wilderness 
Road," and builds the 
fort at Boonesboro'. — 
In 1775 Boone, with 
a party of thirty 
men, chopped a path 
through the forest 
from the mountains 
of Eastern Tennes- 
see to the Kentucky 
River,^ a distance of 
about two hundred 

miles. This was the first path in that part of the 
country leading to the great west. It was called the 
"Wilderness Road." Over that road, which thousands 
of emigrants travelled afterward, Boone took his family, 

1 See map on page 136, 




Boone in the Woods 



136 



THE BEGINNER'S AMERICAN HISTORY 



with Other settlers, to the Kentucky River. There they 
built a fort called Boonesboro'. That fort was a great 
protection to all the first settlers in Kentucky. In fact, 
it is hard to see how the state could have grown up 




Map showing Boone's "Wilderness Road." 



without it. So, in one way, we can say with truth that 
Daniel Boone, the hunter, fighter, and road-maker, was 
a state-builder besides. 

151. Boone's daughter is stolen by the Indians ; how he 
found her. — One day Boone's young daughter was out, 
with two other girls, in a canoe on the river. Suddenly 
some Indians pounced on them and carried them off. 

One of the girls, as she went along, broke off twigs 
from the bushes, so that her friends might be able to 
follow her track through the woods. An Indian caught 
her doing it, and told her that he would kill her if she 
did not instantly stop. Then she slyly tore off small 
bits of her dress, and dropped a piece from time to time. 



DANIEL BOONE 



137 



Boone and his men followed the Indians like blood- 
hounds. They picked up the bits of dress, and so easily- 
found which way the savages had gone. They came up 
with the Indians just as they were sitting down round a 
fire to eat their supper. Creeping toward them behind 
the trees as softly as a cat creeps up behind a mouse, 
Boone and his men aimed their rifles and fired. Two 
of the Indians fell 
dead, the rest ran 
for their lives, and 
the girls were 
carried back in 
safety to the fort. 

152, Boone is cap- 
tured by Indians; 
they adopt him as a 
son. — Later, Boone 
himself was caught 
and carried off by 
the Indians. They 
respected his cour- 
age so much that 
they would not kill him, but decided to adopt him ; that 
is, take him into the tribe as one of their own people, or 
make an Indian of him. 

They pulled out all his hair except one long lock, 
called the "scalp-lock," which they left to grow in 
Indian fashion. The squaws ^ and girls braided bright 
feathers in this lock, so that Boone looked quite gay. 
Then the Indians took him down to a river. There 
they stripped him, and scrubbed him with all their 




Boone trailing Indians 



1 Squaws : Indian women. 



138 THE BEGINNER'S AMERICAN HISTORY 

might, to get his white blood out, as they said. Next, 
they painted his face in stripes with red and yellow clay, 
so that he looked, as they thought, handsomer than he 
had ever looked before. When all had been done, and 
they were satisfied with the appearance of their new 
Indian, they sat down to a great feast, and made merry. 

153. Boone escapes, but the Indians find him again ; what a 
handful of tobacco dust did. — After a time Boone man- 
aged to escape ; but the Indians were so fond of him 
that they could not rest till they found him again. One 
day he was at work in a kind of shed, drying some 
tobacco leaves. He heard a slight noise, and, turning 
round, saw four Indians with their guns pointed at him. 
"Now, Boone," said they, "we got you. You no get 
away this time." " How are you.'' " said Boone pleas- 
antly; "glad to see you; just wait a minute till I get 
you some of my tobacco." He gathered two large 
handfuls of the leaves ; they were as dry as powder and 
crumbled to dust in his hands. Coming forward, as if 
to give the welcome present to the Indians, he suddenly 
sprang on them and filled their eyes, mouths, and noses 
with the stinging tobacco dust. The savages were half 
choked and nearly blinded. While they were dancing 
about, coughing, sneezing, and rubbing their eyes, 
Boone slipped out of the shed and got to a place of 
safety. The Indians were as mad as they could be, yet 
they could hardly help laughing at Boone's trick ; for cun- 
ning as the red men were, he was more cunning still. 

154. Boone's old age ; he moves to Missouri ; he begs for a 
piece of land; his grave. — Boone lived "to be a very old 
man. He had owned a good deal of land in the west, 
but he had lost possession of it. When Kentucky 



DANIEL BOONE I 39 

began to fill up with people and the game was killed off, 
Boone moved across the Mississippi into Missouri. He 
said that he went because he wanted " more elbow 
room " and a chance to hunt buffalo again. 

He now begged the state of Kentucky to give him a 
small piece of land, where, as he said, he could " lay his 
bones." The people of that state generously helped 
him to get nearly a thousand acres ; but he appears to 
have soon lost possession of it. If he actually did lose 
it, then this brave old hunter, who had opened up the 
way for such a multitude of emigrants to get farms at 
the west, died without owning a piece of ground big 
enough for a grave. He is buried in Frankfort, Ken- 
tucky, within sight of the river on which he built his 
fort at Boonesboro'. 

155. Summary. - — • Daniel Boone, a famous hunter from 
North Carolina, opened up a road through the forest, 
from the mountains of Eastern Tennessee to the Ken- 
tucky River. It was called the "Wilderness Road," 
and over it thousands of emigrants went into Kentucky 
to settle. Boone, with others, built the fort at Boones- 
boro', Kentucky, and went there to live. That fort pro- 
tected the settlers against the Indians, and so helped 
that part of the country to grow until it became the 
state of Kentucky. 

Tell about Daniel Boone. How did he help his father ? Where 
did he go when he became a man ? What did he cut on a beech tree ? 
W^here did he go after that ? What is said of the Indians in Kentucky ? 
Tell about Indian tricks. Tell about the two owls. Tell about the 
Wilderness Road. What is said of the fort at Boonesboro' ? Tell how 
Boone's daughter and the other girls were stolen by the Indians. What 
happened ne.\t ? Tell how Boone was captured by the Indians and 
how they adopted him. Tell the story of the tobacco dust. What did 
Boone do when he became old? What did Kentucky get for him? 
Where is he buried ? 



140 THE BEGINNER'S AMERICAN HISTORY 



XVI. GENERAL JAMES ROBERTSON AND 
GOVERNOR JOHN SEVIER 1 

(1742-1814; 1745-1815) 

156. Who James Robertson was ; Governor Tryon ; the 
battle of Alamance,^ — When Daniel Boone first went to 
Kentucky (1769), he had a friend named James Rob- 
ertson, in North CaroHna,^ who was, like himself, a 
mighty hunter. The British governor of North Car- 
olina at that time was William Tryon.* He lived in 
a palace built with money which he had forced the 
people to give him. They hated him so for his greed 
and cruelty that they nicknamed him the " Great Wolf 
of North Carolina." 

At last many of the settlers vowed that they would 
not give the governor another penny. When he sent 
tax-collectors to get money, they drove them back, and 
they flogged one of the governor's friends with a raw- 
hide till he had to run for his life. 

The governor then collected some soldiers and marched 
against the people in the west. A battle was fought near 
the Alamance River. The governor had the most men, 
and had cannon besides ; so he gained the day. He took 
seven of the people prisoners and hanged them. They 
all died bravely, as men do who die for liberty. 



1 Sevier (Se-veer') : he was born in Rockingham County, Virginia. 

2 Alamance River (Al'a-mance) ; see map on page 136. 

3 Robertson was born in Brunswick County, Virginia ; he emigrated to North 
Carolina and settled in the neighborhood of Raleigh. See map on page 136. 

4 Tryon (Try'on). 



GENERAL ROBERTSON AND GOVERNOR SEVIER I4I 



157. James Robertson leaves North Carolina and goes west. 

After the battle of Alamance James Robertson and 

his family made up their minds that they would not live 
any longer where Governor Tryon ruled. They resolved 
to go across the mountains into the western wilderness. 
Sixteen other families joined Robertson's and went with 
them. It was a 
long, hard jour- 
ney ; for they had 
to climb rocks and 
find their way 
through deep, tan- 
gled woods. The 
men went ahead 
with their axes 
and their guns ; 
then the older 
children followed, 
driving the cows ; 
last of all came 
the women with 
the little chil- 
dren, with beds, 

pots, and kettles 

r^ool^o^ /^n fV>/=. Robertson and his Party crossing the 
pacKcQ on L 11 c 

^ Mountains on their Way to Tennessee 

backs of horses. 

158. The emigrants settle on the Watauga River ^ in Ten- 
nessee. — When the little party had crossed the moun- 
tains into what is now the state of Tennessee, they 
found a delightful valley. Through this valley there ran 
a stream of clear, sparkling water called the Watauga 

1 Watauga River (Wa-taw'ga) ; see map on page 136. 




^/^A. 



142 THE BEGINNER'S AMERICAN HISTORY 

River ; the air of the valley was sweet with the smell 
of wild crab-apples. 

On the banks of that stream the emigrants built their 
new homes. Their houses were simply rough log huts ; 
but they were clean and comfortable. When the settlers 
put up these cabins, they chopped down every tree near 
them which was big enough for an Indian to hide behind. 
They knew that they might have to fight the savages ; 
but they had rather do that than be robbed by tax-col- 
lectors. In the wilderness, Governor Tryon could not 
reach them — they were free ; free as the deer and the 
squirrels were : that one thought made them contented 
and happy. 

159. John Sevier goes to settle at Watauga ; what he and 
Robertson did. — The year after this little settlement was 
made, John Sevier went from Virginia to Watauga, as 
it was called. He and Robertson soon became fast 
friends, — for one brave man can always see something 
to respect and like in another brave man. Robertson 
and Sevier hunted together and worked together. 

After a while, they called a meeting of the settlers 
and agreed on some excellent laws, so that everything 
in the log village might be done decently and in order ; 
for, although these people lived in the woods, they had 
no notion of living like savages or wild beasts. In 
course of time President Washington made James Rob- 
ertson General Robertson, in honor of what he had done 
for his country. 

Out of this settlement on the Watauga River grew 
the state of Tennessee. Many years ago a small monu- 
ment was erected to Sevier in the cemetery at Nash- 
ville, a city founded by his friend Robertson. Recently 



GENERAL GEORGE ROGERS CLARK 1 43 

a noble monument to Sevier's memory has been erected 
in Knoxville, formerly the capital of the state of which 
he became the first Governor. 

160. Summary. — James Robertson, of North Caro- 
lina, and John Sevier, of Virginia, emigrated across the 
mountains to the western wilderness. They settled on 
the Watauga River, and that settlement, with others 
made later, grew into the state of Tennessee; of which 
John Sevier became the first governor. 

What friend did Boone have in North Carolina? Tell about Gov- 
ernor Tryon. What happened on the Alamance River? Where did 
Robertson and others go ? Where did they settle ? Why did they like 
to be there ? Tell about John Sevier. What did he and Robertson do ? 
What did Washington do for Robertson ? What state grew out of the 
Watauga settlement ? What did Sevier become ? Where are his tv.o 
monuments ? 



XVII. GENERAL GEORGE ROGERS CLARK 

(1752-1818) 

161. The British in the west; their forts; hiring Indians 
to fight the settlers. — While Washington was fighting 
the battles of the Revolution in the east, the British in 
the west were not sitting still. They had a number of 
forts in the Wilderness,^ as the country west of the Alle- 
ghany Mountains was then called. One of these forts 
was at Detroit, 2 in what is now Michigan ; another 
was at Vincennes,^ in what is now Indiana ; a third 
fort was at Kaskaskia,* in what is now Illinois. 

Colonel Hamilton, the British commander at Detroit, 
was determined to drive the American settlers out of the 

1 See map on page 168. 

2 Detroit (De-troit') ; for these forts see map on page 144. 
8 Vincennes (Vin-senz'). * Kaskaskia 'Kas-kas'ki-a). 



144 



THE BEGINNER'S AMERICAN HISTORY 



west. In the beginning of the Revokition the Americans 
resolved to hire the Indians to fight for them ; but the 
British found that they could hire them better than 
we could, and so they got their help. The savages did 
their work in a terribly cruel way. Generally they did 
not come out and do battle openly ; but they crept up 
secretly, by night, and attacked the farmers' homes. 
They killed and scalped the settlers in the west, burned 

their log cabins, and 
carried off the 
women and children 
prisoners. The 
greater part of the 
people in England 
hated this sort of 
war. They begged 
the king not to hire 
the Indians to do 
these horrible deeds 
of murder and de- 
struction. George the Third was not a bad-hearted man ; 
but he was very set in his way, and he had fully made 
up his mind to conquer the "American rebels," as he 
called them, even if he had to get the savages to help 
him do it. 

162. George Rogers Clark gets help from Virginia and starts, 
to attack Fort Kaskaskia. — Daniel Boone had a friend in 
Virginia named George Rogers Clark, ^ who believed 
that he could take the British forts in the west and 
drive out the British from all that part of the country. 
Virginia then owned most of the Wilderness. For 

1 George Rogers Clark was bom near Monticello, Virginia. See map, page 124.. 




Map showing the forts at Detroit, Kaskaskia, and 
Vincennes, with the line of Clark's march. 



GENERAL GEORGE ROGERS CLARK I45 

this reason Clark went to Patrick Henry, governor of 
Virginia, and asked for help. The governor liked the 
plan, and let Clark have money to hire men to go 
with him and try to take Fort Kaskaskia to begin 
with. 

Clark started in the spring of 1778 with about a hun- 
dred and fifty men. They built boats on the banks of 
the Allegheny ^ River just above Pittsburg,^ and floated 
down the Ohio River, a distance of over nine hundred 
miles. Then they landed in what is now Illinois, and 
set out for Fort Kaskaskia.^ 

163. The march to Fort Kaskaskia ; how a dance ended. — It 
was a hundred miles to the fort, and half of the way the 
men had to find their way through thick woods, full of 
underbrush, briers, and vines. The British, thinking the 
fort perfectly safe from attack, had left it in the care 
of a French officer. Clark and his band reached Kas- 
kaskia at night. They found no one to stop them. 
The soldiers in the fort were having a dance, and the 
Americans could hear the merry music of a violin and 
the laughing voices of girls. 

Clark left his men just outside the fort, and, finding 
a door open, he walked in. He reached the room where 
the fun was going on, and, stopping there, he stood lean- 
ing against the doorpost, looking on. The room was 
lighted with torches; the light of one of the torches 
happened to fall full on Clark's face ; an Indian sitting 
on the floor caught sight of him ; he sprang to his feet 
and gave a terrific war-whoop. The dancers stopped 

1 Allegheny (Al-le-gen'y) : the Allegheny and the Monongahela (Mon-on-ga- 
he'la) rivers unite at Pittsburg and form the Ohio River. 

2 Pittsburg; see map, page 124. 3 Fort Kaskaskia; see map on page 144. 



146 



THE BEGINNER'S AMERICAN HISTORY 



as though they had been shot ; the women screamed ; 
the men ran to the door to get their guns. Clark did 
not move, but said quietly, " Go on ; only remember you 

are dancing now 
under Virginia, and 
not under Great 
Britain." The next 
moment the Ameri- 
cans rushed in, and 
Clark and his "Long 
Knives," as the In- 
dians called his men, 
had full possession 
of the fort. 

164. How Fort Vin- 
cennes was taken ; how 
the British got it back 
again ; what Francis 
Vigo ^ did. — Clark 
wanted next to 
march against Fort 
Vincennes, but he 
had not men enough. 
There was a French Catholic priest ^ at Kaskaskia, and 
Clark's kindness to him had made him our friend. He 
said, I will go to Vincennes for you, and I will tell the 
French, who hold the fort for the British, that the Ameri- 
cans are their real friends, and that, in this war, they are 
in the right. He went ; the French listened to "him ; 
then hauled down the British flag and ran up the American 
flag in its place. 

1 Vigo (Vee-go). 2 The priest was Father Gibault (Zhe-boO. 




Clark looking on at the Dance 



GENERAL GEORGE ROGERS CLARK 1 4/ 

The next year the British, led by Colonel Hamilton, 
of Detroit, got the fort back again. When Clark heard 
of it he said, " Either I must take Hamilton, or Hamil- 
ton will take me." Just then Francis Vigo, a trader 
at St. Louis, came to see Clark at Kaskaskia. Hamil- 
ton had held Vigo as a prisoner, so he knew all about 
Fort Vincennes. Vigo said to Clark, " Hamilton has 
only about eighty soldiers ; you can take the fort, and 
I will lend you all the money you need to pay your men 
what you owe them." 

165. Clark's march to Fort Vincennes; the "Drowned 
Lands." — Clark, with about two hundred men, started 
for Vincennes. The distance was nearly a hundred 
and fifty miles. The first week everything went on 
pretty well. It was in the month of February ; the 
weather was cold, and it rained a good deal ; but the 
men did not mind that. They would get wet through 
during the day ; but at night they built roaring log 
fires, gathered round them, roasted their buffalo meat 
or venison, smoked their pipes, told jolly stories, and 
sang jolly songs. 

The next week they got to a branch of the Wabash 
River.i Then they found that the constant rains had 
raised the streams so that they had overflowed their 
banks ; the whole country was under water three 
or four feet deep. This flooded country was called 
the " Drowned Lands " : before Clark and his men 
had crossed these lands, they were nearly drowned 
themselves. 

166. Wading on to victory. — For about a week the 
Americans had to wade in ice-cold water, sometimes 

1 See map on page 144. 



X48 



THE BEGINNER'S AMERICAN HISTORY 



waist deep, sometimes nearly up to their chins. While 
wading, the men were obliged to hold their guns and 
powder horns above their heads to keep them dry. 
Now and then a man would stub his toe against a root 
or a stone and would go sprawling headfirst into the 
water. When he came up, puffing and blowing from 
such a dive, he was lucky if he still had his gun. For 

two days no one 
could get anything 
to eat ; but hungry, 
wet, and cold, they 
kept moving 
slowly on. 

The last part of 
the march was the 
worst of all. They 
were now near the 
fort, but they still 
had to wad e 
through a sheet of 
water four miles 
across. Clark 
took the lead and 
plunged in. The rest, shivering, followed. A few looked 
as though their strength and courage had given out. 
Clark saw this, and calling to Captain Bowman, — one 
of the bravest of his officers, — he ordered him to kill the 
first man who refused to go forward. 

At last, with numbed hands and chattering teeth, all 
got across, but some of them were so weak and blue 
with cold that they could not take another step, but 
fell flat on their faces in the mud. These men were 




Wading through Flood 



GENERAL GEORGE ROGERS CLARK 149 

SO nearly dead that no fire seemed to warm them, 
Clark ordered two strong men to lift each of these 
poor fellows up, hold him between them by the arms, 
and run him up and down until he began to get warm. 
By doing this he saved every one, 

167. Clark takes the fort ; what we got by his victory ; his 
grave. — After a long and desperate fight, Clark took 
Fort Vincennes and hoisted the Stars and Stripes over 
it in triumph. The British never got it back again. 
Most of the Indians were now glad to make peace, and 
to promise to behave themselves. 

By Clark's victory the Americans got possession of 
the whole western wilderness up to Detroit. When the 
Revolutionary War came to an end, the British did not 
want to give us any part of America beyond the thir- 
teen states on the Atlantic coast. But we said, The 
whole west, clear to the Mississippi, is ours ; we fought 
for it ; we took it ; we hoisted our ^ 

flag over its forts, and zve vtca?t to 
keep it. We did keep it. 

There is a grass-grown grave in a 
burial ground in Louisville, Ken- 
tucky, which has a small headstone 

marked with the letters G. R. C, and _ , ^ 

Clark s Grave 

nothing more ; that is the grave of 
General George Rogers Clark, the man who did more 
than any one else to get the west for us — or what was 
called the west a hundred years ago. 

Clark died neglected and in great poverty. In 1895 
a fine monument was erected to his memor)', in the city 
of Indianapolis.^ 

1 Indianapolis (In-dian-ap'o-lis). 




ISO THE BEGINNER'S AMERICAN HISTORY 

168. Summary. — During the Revolutionary War 
George Rogers Clark, of Virginia, with a small number 
of men, captured Fort Kaskaskia in Illinois, and Fort 
Vincennes in Indiana. Clark drove out the British 
from that part of the country ; and when peace was 
made, we kept the west — that is, the country beyond 
the Alleghany Mountains as far as the Mississippi River 
— as a part of the United States. Had it not been 
for Clark and his brave men, we might not have got it. 

What did the British have in the west ? Where were three of those 
forts ? Who hired the Indians to fight ? How did they fight ? What 
did most of the people in England think about this ? What is said of 
George the Third? What friend did Daniel Boone have in Virginia? 
What did Clark undertake to do? Tell how he went down the Ohio. 
Tell how he marched on Fort Kaskaskia. What happened when he 
got there ? What did Clark say to the people in the fort ? How was 
Fort Vincennes taken? What did the British do the next year? Tell 
about Francis Vigo. What did Clark and his men start to do ? How 
far off was Fort Vincennes ? Tell about the first part of the march. 
What lands did they come to ? Tell how the men waded. How did 
Clark save the lives of some of the men ? Did Clark take the fort ? 
What did the Americans get possession of by this victory? What 
happened at the end of the Revolutionary War? What did we say? 
What is said of the grave at Louisville, Kentucky, and of the monu- 
ment at Indianapolis ? What did Clark get for us ? 



XVIII. GENERAL RUFUS PUTNAM 

(1738-1824) 

169. What General Putnam did for Washington, and what 
the British said of Putnam's work. — When the British had 
possession of Boston in the time of the Revolution, 
Washington asked Rufus Putnam, ^ who was a great 
builder of forts, to help him drive them out. Putnam 

1 Rufus Putnam was born in Sutton, Massachusetts. 



GENERAL RUFUS PUTNAM 151 

set to work, one dark, stormy night, and built a fort 
on some high land ^ overlooking Boston harbor. 

When the British commander woke up the next morn- 
ing, he saw the American cannon pointed at his ships. 
He was so astonished that he could scarcely believe his 




Down the Ohio " 



eyes. "Why," said he, "the rebels have done more 
in one night than my whole army could have done in 
a week." Another officer, who had command of the 
British vessels, said, " If the Americans hold that fort, I 
cannot keep a ship in the harbor." 

1 Dorchester Heights : now South Boston. 



IS2 THE BEGINNER'S AMERICAN HISTORY 

Well, we know what happened. Our men did hold 
that fort, and the British had to leave Boston. Next to 
General Washington, General Rufus Putnam was the 
man who made them go ; for not many officers in the 
American army could build such a fort as he could. 

170. General Putnam builds the Mayflower; goes down the 
Ohio River and makes the first settlement in Ohio. — After 
the war was over. General Putnam started, with a com- 
pany of people from New England,^ to make a settle- 
ment on the Ohio River. In the spring of 1788 he and 
his emigrants built a boat at a place on a branch of the 
Ohio River just above Pittsburg.^ They named this 
boat the Mayfloiver^ because they were Pilgrims going 
west to make their home there. 

At that time there was not a white settler in what is 
now the state of Ohio. Most of that country was cov- 
ered with thick woods. There were no roads through 
those woods ; and there was not a steamboat or a 
railroad in America or, in fact, in the whole world. 
If you look on the map^ and follow down the Ohio 
River from Pittsburg, you will come to a place where 
the Muskingum^ River fiows into it. At that place 
the Mayflower stopped, and the emigrants landed and 
began to build their settlement. 

171. What the settlers named their town; the first Fourth 
of July celebration ; what Washington said of the settlers. — 
During the Revolutionary War the beautiful Queen 
Mary, of France, was our firm friend, and she was very 

1 General Putnam was then living in Rutland, Worcester County, Massachu- 
setts. His house is still standing. From it the emigrants for the Ohio country 
took their departure in wagons drawn by ox teams. See a very interesting article 
on " Historic Rutland " in the New England Magazine for August, 1893. 

2 Pittsburg; see map, page 124. * See map, page 124. 
^Mayflower; see page 45. 6 Muskingum (Mus-kin'gum). 



GENERAL RUFUS PUTNAM 



153 



kind and helpful to Dr. Franklin when he went to 
France for us. A number of the emigrants to Ohio 
had fought in the Revolution ; and so the company of 
settlers decided to name the town Marietta,^ in honor 
of the queen. 

When the Marietta set- 
tlers celebrated the Fourth 
of July, Major Denny, who 
commanded a fort just across 
the river, came to visit 
them. He said, "These 
people appear to be the 
happiest folks in 
the world." Presi- 
dent Washington 
said that he knew 
many of them and 1] 
that he believed ^^^ 
they were just the 
kind of men to succeed, ^ff''",. 
He was right ; for these 
people, with those who 
came later to build the 
city of Cincinnati, were 
the ones who laid the 
foundation of the great and rich state of Ohio. 

172. Fights with the Indians; how the settlers held their 
town; Indian Rock; the " Miami ^ Slaughter House." — But 
the people of Marietta had hardly begun to feel at home 
in their little settlement before a terrible Indian war 

1 The queen's full name in French was Marie Antoinette ; the name Marietta 
Is made up from the first and the last parts of her name. 2 Miami (Mi-am'i). 




On the Lookout 



154 



THE BEGINNER'S AMERICAN HISTORY 



broke out. The village of Marietta had a high, close 
fence or palisade^ built round it, and if a man ventured 
outside that palisade, he went at the risk of his life ; for 
the Indians were always hiding in the woods, ready to 
kill any white man they saw. When the set- 
■4S6^--v. tiers worked in the cornfield, they 

-1%^ ',,^^^( had to carry their guns as well as 



"■■'.''''^^'^^^^M'-W th^^^ hoes; and one man always 
-w.., '",-.^- a,.Bv. ' g|-QQ(j Qj^ ^Qp q£ ^ j^jg]^ stump in 



the middle of the field, to 
keep a bright lookout. 
On the Ohio River, 
below Marietta, 
there is a lofty 
rock which is 
still called In- 
dian Rock. It 
got its name 
because the 
Indians used to 
climb to the top 
and watch for 
emigrants com- 
ing down the 
river in boats. When they saw a boat, they would fire a 
shower of bullets at it, and perhaps leave it full of dead 
and wounded men to drift down the stream. In the 
western part of Ohio, on the Miami River, the Indians 
killed so many people that the settlers called that 
part of the country by the terrible name of the "Miami 
Slaughter House." 

1 See picture of a palisade (pal-i-sade') on page 51. 




Indian Rock 



GENERAL RUFUS PUTNAM 155 

173. What General Wayne ^ did. — But President Wash- 
ington sent a man to Ohio who made the Indians beg 
for peace. This man was General Wayne ; he had 
fought in the Revolution, and fought so furiously that 
he was called " Mad Anthony Wayne." The Indians 
said that he never slept ; and they named him " Black 
Snake," because that is the quickest and boldest snake 
there is in the woods, and in a fight with any other 
creature of his kind he is pretty sure to win the day. 
General Wayne won ; and the Indians agreed to move 
off and give up a very large part of Ohio to the white 
settlers. After that, there was not much trouble, and 
emigrants poured in by thousands. 

174. Summary. — In 1788 General Rufus Putnam, 
with a company of emigrants, settled Marietta, Ohio. 
The town was named in honor of Queen Mary of France, 
who had helped us during the Revolution. It was the 
first town built in what is now the state of Ohio. After 
General Wayne had conquered the Indians, that part of 
the country rapidly increased in population. 

What did General Rufus Putnam do for Washington? Where did 
General Putnam go in 1788? What is said of Ohio at that time? 
Where did the Mayflower stop ? What is said of Queen Mary of 
France? What did the settlers name their town? What did Wash- 
ington say about the settlers ? What did these people do ? What is 
said about the Indians? What about Indian Rock? What was the 
country on the Miami River called ? What is said about General 
Wayne? What did the Indians call him? Why did they give him 
that name? What did the Indians agree to do? What happened 
after that ? 

1 Wayne (Wane). 



rS6 



THE BEGINNER'S AMERICAN HISTORY 



XIX. ELI WHITNEY 



(1765-1825) 

175. The name cut on a door. — Near Westboro, Massa^ 
chusetts/ there was an old farm-house which was built 
before the war of the Revolution. Close to the house 
was a small wooden building ; on the door you could 

read a boy's name, just as 
he cut it with his pocket- 
knife more than a hundred 
years ago.^ Here is the 
door with the name. If 
the boy had added the 
date of his birth, he would 
have cut the figures 1765 ; 
but perhaps, just as he 
got to that point, his 
father appeared, and said 
rather sharply : Eli, don't 
be cutting that door. No, 
sir, said Eli, with a start ; and shutting his knife up with 
a snap, he hurried off to get the cows or to do his chores.^ 

176. What Eli Whitney used to do in his father's little 
workshop ; the fiddle. — Eli Whitney's father used that 
little wooden building as a kind of workshop, where he 
mended chairs and did many other small jobs. Eli 
liked to go to that workshop and make little things for 
himself, such as water-wheels and windmills ; for it was 
as natural for him to use tools as it was to whistle. 

1 See map, page ii6. 8 Chores: getting in wood, feeding cattle, etc. 

2 The house and the small wooden building (with the famous door) were 
pulled down a number of years ago. 




ELI WHITNEY 157 

Once, when Eli's father was gone from home for sev- 
eral days, the boy was very busy all the while in the 
little shop. When Mr. Whitney came back, he asked 
his housekeeper, " What has Eli been doing .? " " Oh," 
she replied, " he has been making a fiddle." His father 
shook his head, and said that he was afraid Eli would 
never get on much in the world. But Eli's fiddle, 
though it was rough looking, was well made. It had 
music in it, and the neighbors liked to hear it : somehow 
it seemed to say, through all the tunes played on it, 
" Whatever is zvorth doing, is worth doing zvellT 

177. Eli Whitney begins making nails; he goes to college. 
— When Eli was fifteen, he began making nails. We 
have machines to-day which will make more than a hun- 
dred nails a minute ; but Eli made his, one by one, by 
pounding them out of a long, slender bar of red-hot iron. 
Whitney's hand-made nails were not handsome, but they 
were strong and tough; and, as the Revolutionary War 
was then going on, he could sell all he could make. 

After the war was over, the demand for nails was not 
so good. Then Whitney threw down his hammer, and 
said, " I am going to college." He had no money ; but 
he worked his way through Yale College, partly by teach- 
ing and partly by doing little jobs with his tools. A 
carpenter who saw him at work one day noticed how 
neatly and skilfully he used his tools, and said, " There 
was one good mechanic spoiled when you went to 
college." 

178. "Whitney goes to Georgia; he stays with Mrs. Greene; 
the embroidery frame. — When the young man had com- 
pleted his course of study, he went to Georgia to teach 
in a gentleman's family. On the way to Savannah he 



158 



THE BEGINNER'S AMERICAN HISTORY 



became acquainted with Mrs. Greene, the widow of the 
famous General Greene ^ of Rhode Island. General Greene 
had done such excellent fighting in the south during the 
Revolution that, after the war was over, the state of 
Georgia gave him a large piece of land near Savannah. 




Negroes gathering Cotton in the Field 



Mrs. Greene invited young Whitney to her house ; as 
he had been disappointed in getting the place to teach, 
he was very glad to accept her kind invitation. While 
he was there, he made her an embroidery frame. It 
was much better than the old one that she had been 
using, and she thought the maker of it was wonder- 
fully skilful. 

1 General Greene ; see page 124. 



ELI WHITNEY 



159 



179. A talk about raising cotton, and about cotton seeds. — 
Not long after this, a number of cotton-planters were 
at Mrs. Greene's house. In speaking about raising cot- 
ton, they said that the man who could invent a machine 
for stripping off the cotton seeds from the plant would 
make his fortune. 

For what is called raw cotton or cotton wool, as it 

grows in the field, has a great number of little green 

seeds clinging to it. Before the cotton wool can be 

■ spun into thread and woven into cloth, those seeds 

must be pulled off. 

At that time the planters set the negroes to do this. 
When they had finished their day's labor of gathering 
the cotton in the cotton field, the men, women, and 
children would sit down and pick off the seeds, which 
stick so tight that ,. 

getting them off is no 
easy task. 

After the planters 
had talked awhile 
about this work, Mrs. 
Greene said, " If you 
want a machine to do 
it, you should apply to my young friend, Mr. Whitney ; 
he can make anything." "But," said Mr. Whitney, "I 
have never seen a cotton plant or a cotton seed in my 
life " ; for it was not the time of year then to see it 
growing in the fields. 

180. Whitney gets some cotton wool ; he invents the cotton- 
gin ; what that machine did. — After the planters had gone, 
Eli Whitney went to Savannah and hunted about until 
he found, in some store or warehouse, a little cotton 




Whitney's First Contrivance for 

PULLING OFF THE COTTON SeEDS 



i6o 



THE BEGINNER'S AMERICAN HISTORY 



wool with the seeds left on it. He took this back with 
him and set to work to make a machine which would 
strip off the seeds. 

He said to himself, If I fasten some upright pieces of 
wire in a board, and set the wires very close together, 
like the teeth of a comb, and then pull the cotton wool 
through the wires with my fingers, the seeds, being too 
large to come through, will be torn off and left behind. 

He tried it, and found 



that the cotton wool 
came through without 
any seeds on it. Now, 
said he. If I should 
make a wheel, and 
cover it with short 
steel teeth, shaped 
like hooks, these teeth 
would pull the cotton 
wool through the 
wires better than my 
fingers do, and very 
much faster, 
it was turned by a crank ; 
it did the work perfectly ; so, in the year 1 793, he had 
invented the machine the planters wanted. 

Before that time it used to take a negro all day to clean 
a single pound of cotton of its seeds, by picking them off 
one by one ; now, Eli Whitney's cotton-gin,^ as he called 
his machine, would clean a thousand pounds in a day. 

181. Price of common cotton cloth; what made it cheap; 
" King Cotton." — In time that machine made cotton cloth 

1 Gin : a shortened form of the word engine, meaning any kind of machine. 




A Cotton-Gin 



He made such a wheel 



ELI WHITNEY 



l6l 



SO cheap that you could buy it for ten or twelve cents 
a yard ; ^ but before Whitney invented his cotton-gin it 
sold for a dollar and a half a yard. A hundred years ago 
the planters at the south raised very little cotton, for few 
people could afford to wear it ; but after this wonderful 
machine was made, the planters kept making their fields 
bigger and bigger. At last they 
raised so much more of this plant 
than of anything else, that they 
said, " Cotton is king." It was 
Eli Whitney who built the throne 
for that king ; and although he 
did not make a fortune by his 
machine, yet he received a good 
deal of money for the use of it in 
some of the southern states. 

Later, Mr. Whitney built a gun- 
factory near New Haven, Con- 
necticut, at a place now called Whitneyville ; in that factory 
he made thousands of the muskets which we used in our 
second war with England ^ in 1 8 1 2, — that famous war 
which gave us the stirring song of the Star-Spanglcd 
Banner, and which secured our independence on the sea 
as the war of the Revolution did on the land. 




The 



m """mm 

' Star-Spangled 
Banner " 



1 But when the Great War came (see page 263) cotton jumped in price. 

- In the war of 1S12 the Britisli war-ships attacked Fort McHenry, one of the 
defences of Baltimore. Francis Scott Key, a native of Maryland, who was then 
detained on board a British man-of-war, anxiously watched the battle during the 
night; before dawn the firing ceased. Key had no means of telling whether 
the British had taken the fort until the sun rose ; then, to his joy, he saw the 
American flag still floating triumphantly above the fort — that meant that the 
British had failed in their attack ; and Key, in his delight, hastily wrote the song 
of the Star-S/>c[ngled Banner on the back of a letter which he had in his 
pocket. In a few weeks his song was heard from one end of the I'nited States 
to the other. 



l62 THE BEGINNER'S AMERICAN HISTORY 

182. Summary. — About a hundred years ago (1793), 
Eli Whitney of Westboro, Massachusetts, invented the 
cotton-gin, a machine for puHing off the green seeds 
from cotton wool, so that it may be easily woven into 
cloth. That machine made thousands of cotton-planters 
and cotton manufacturers rich, and by it cotton cloth 
became so cheap that everybody could afford to use it. 

What name did a boy cut on a door .'' What did Eli make in that 
workshop.'' What did he make while his father was away.'' What did 
his father say .'' What did Eli's fiddle seem to say .? What did Eli make 
next .'' How did he make his nails .'' Where did he go after he gave up 
making nails .'' When he left college where did he go ? What lady did 
he become acquainted with .'' What did he make for her ? What did the 
cotton-planters say ? What must be done to raw cotton before it can be 
made into cloth ? Who did this work .'' What did Mrs. Greene say to the 
planters .'' What did Mr. Whitney say? What did he do? Tell how 
he made his machine. What did he call it ? How many pounds of cotton 
would his cotton-gin clean in a day ? How much could one negro clean ? 
What is said about the price of cotton cloth ? What did the planters 
say about cotton ? Who built the throne for King Cotton ? What did 
Mr. Whitney build at Whitneyville ? What did he make there ? 



XX. THOMAS JEFFERSON 

(1743-1826) 

183. How much cotton New Orleans sends to Europe; Eli 
Whitney's work ; who it was that bought New Orleans ^ and 
Louisiana for us. — To-day the city of New Orleans, near 
the mouth of the Mississippi River, sends more cotton 
to England and Europe than any other city in America. 

If you should visit that city and go down to the river- 
side, you would see thousands of cotton bales ^ piled up, 

1 New Orleans (Orle-anz). , 

2 A bale or bundle of cotton is usually somewhat more than five feet long, 
and it generally weighs from 400 to 550 pounds. The cotton crop of this coun- 
try in 1900 amounted to nearly 9,500,000 bales. The fact is America can now 
supply cotton enough to clothe the earth. 



THOMAS JEFFERSON 



163 



and hundreds of negroes loading them on ocean steam- 
ers. It would be a sight you would never forget. 

Before Eli Whitney ^ invented his machine, we sent 
hardly a bale of cotton abroad. Now we send so much 
in one year that 
the bales can 
be counted by 
millions. If 
they were laid 
end to end, in 
a straight line, 
they would 
reach clear 
across the 
American con- 
tin en t from 
San Francisco 
to New York, 
and then clear 
across the 
ocean from 
New York to 
Liverpool, 
England, and 
about three 
thousand miles 
further. Eli 

Whitney did more than any other man to build up 
this great trade. But at the time when he invented his 
cotton-gin, we did not own New Orleans, or, for that 
matter, any part of Louisiana ^ or of the country west of 




Thomas Jefferson 



1 See page 156. 



2 Louisiana (Loo'e-ze-ah-'na). 



164 



THE BEGINNER'S AMERICAN HISTORY 



the Mississippi River. The man who bought New 
Orleans and Louisiana for us was Thomas Jefferson. 

184. Who Thomas Jefferson was; Monticello^; how Jeffer- 
son's slaves met him when he came home from Europe. — 
Thomas Jefferson was the son of a rich planter who 







•^ 






Jefferson's Home at 
monticello 



lived near Charlottesville 
in Virginia.^ When his 
father died, he came into 
possession of a plantation 
of nearly two thousand acres of land, with forty or fifty 
negro slaves on it. 

There was a high hill on the plantation, to which Jeffer- 
son gave the Italian^ name of Monticello, or the little 
mountain. Here he built a fine house. From it he could 
see the mountains and valleys of the Blue Ridge for an 
immense distance. No man in America had a more beau- 
tiful home, or enjoyed it more, than. Thomas Jefferson. 

1 Monticello (Mon-te-sel'lo). 2 gee map, page 124. 

8 Italian (It-al'yan). 



THOMAS JEFFERSON 



165 



Jefferson's slaves thought that no one could be better 
than their master. He was always kind to them, and 
they were ready to do anything for him. 

Once when he came back from France, where he had 
been staying for a long time, the negroes went to meet 




Slaves meeting Jefferson 

his carriage. They walked several miles down the 
road ; when they caught sight of the carriage, they 
shouted and sang with delight. They would gladly 
have taken out the horses and drawn it up the steep 



1 66 



THE BEGINNER'S AMERICAN HISTORY 




^gteftUfiotii 



hill. When Jefferson reached Monticello and got out, the 
negroes took him in their arms, and, laughing and crying 
for joy, they carried him into the house. Perhaps no king 
ever got such a welcome as that ; for that welcome was 
not bought with money : it came from the heart. Yet 
Jefferson hoped and prayed that the time would come 
when ev^ery slave in the country might be set free. 

185. Thomas Jefferson hears Patrick Henry speak at Rich- 
mond. — -Jefferson was educated to be a lawyer; he was 
not a good public speaker himself, but he liked to hear 

men who were good 
speakers. Just before 
the beginning of the 
Revolutionary War 
(1775), the people of 
Virginia sent men to 
the city of Richmond 
to hold a meeting in 
old St. John's Church. 
They met to see what 
should be done about 
defending those rights 
which the king of Eng- 
land had refused to 
grant the Americans. 

One of the speakers 
at that meeting was a 
"\^E Mvsr Hght!" famous Virginian. 

named Patrick Henry. When he got up to speak he 
looked very pale, but his eyes shone like coals of fire. 
He made a great speech. He said, " We must fight ! I 
repeat it, sir, — we must Jig-/a ! " The other Virginians 



THOMAS JEFFERSON 167 

agreed with Patrick Henry, and George Washington and 
Thomas Jefferson, with other noted men who were present 
at the meeting, began at once to make ready to fight. 

186. Thomas Jefferson writes the Declaration of Independ- 
ence ; how it was sent through the country. — Shortly after 
this the great war began. In a httle over a year from 
the time when the first battle was fought, Congress 
asked Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin, and some 
others to write the Declaration of Independence. Jef- 
ferson really wrote almost every word of it. He was 
called the " Pen of the Revolution " ; for he could 
write quite as well as Patrick Henry could speak. 

The Declaration was printed, and was then carried, 
by men mounted on fast horses, all over the United 
States. When men heard it, they rang the church 
bells and sent up cheer after cheer. General Washing- 
ton had the Declaration read to all the soldiers in his 
army ; and, if powder had not been so scarce, they 
would have fired off every gun for joy. 

187. Jefferson is chosen President of the United States ; 
what he said about New Orleans. — A number of years after 
the war was over, Jefferson was chosen President of the 
United States; while he was President (1801-1809) 
he did something for the country which will never be 
forgotten. 

Louisiana and the city of New Orleans, with the 
lower part of the Mississippi River, then belonged to 
the French ; for, at that time, the United States only 
reached west as far as the Mississippi River. Now, as 
New Orleans stands near the mouth of that river, the 
French could say, if they chose, what vessels should go 
out to sea, and what should come in. So far, then, as 



i68 



THE BEGINNER'S AMERICAN HISTORY 




Map showing the extent of the United States at the close of the Revolution, and also 
when Jefferson became President ( 1 80 1). 

that part of America was concerned, we were like a 
man who owns a house while another man owns one of 
the principal doors to it. The man who has the door 
could say to the owner of the house, I shall stand here 
on the steps, and you must pay me so many dollars 
every time you go out and every time you come in 
this way. 

Jefferson saw that so long as the French held the 
door of New Orleans, we should not be free to send 
our cotton down the river and across the ocean to 
Europe. He said we must have that door, no matter 
how much it cost. 

188. Jefferson buys New Orleans and Louisiana for the 
United States. — Mr. Robert R. Livingston, one of the 
signers of the Declaration of Independence, was in France 



THOMAS JEFFERSON 



169 




Map showing how much larger President Jefferson made the United States by buying 
Louisiana in 1803. (The Oregon Country is marked in bars to show that the 
ownership of it was disputed ; England and the United States both claimed it.) 



at that time, and Jefferson sent over to him to see if he 
could buy New Orleans for the United States. Napoleon 
Bonaparte ^ then ruled France. He said, I want money 
to purchase war-ships with, so that I can fight England; 
I will sell not only New Orleans, but all Louisiana besides, 
for fifteen millions of dollars. That was cheap enough, 
and so in 1803 President Jefferson bought it. 

If you look on the map^ you will see that Louisiana 
then was not simply a good-sized state, as it is now, but 
an immense country reaching clear back to the Rocky 
Mountains. It was really larger than the whole United 
States east of the Mississippi River. So, through 

1 Napoleon Bonaparte (Na-pole-on Bo'na-part). 

2 Compare map on this page with that on page 168. 



I/O THE BEGINNER'S AMERICAN HISTORY 

President Jefferson's purchase, we added so much land 
that we now had more than twice as much as we had 
before ; and we had got the whole Mississippi River, the 
city of New Orleans, and what is now the great city of 
St. Louis besides. 

189. Death of Jefferson; the words cut on his gravestone. 
— Jefferson lived to be an old man. He died at Monti- 
cello on the Fourth of July, 1826, just fifty years, to a 
day, after he had signed the Declaration of Independence. 
John Adams, who had been President next before Jeffer- 
son, died a few hours later. So America lost two of her 
great men on the same day. 

Jefferson was buried at Monticello. He asked to have 
these words, with some others, cut on his gravestone ^ : — 

Here Was Buried 

THOMAS JEFFERSON, 

Author of the Declaration of American Independence. 

190. Summary. — Thomas Jefferson of Virginia wrote 
the Declaration of Independence. After he became 
President of the United States, he bought Louisiana 
for us. The purchase of Louisiana, with New Orleans, 
gave us the right to send our ships to sea by way of 
the Mississippi River, which now belonged to us. 
Louisiana added so much land that it more than 
doubled the size of the United States. 

1 The gravestone stands by the side of the road at no great distance from 
the house at Monticello. This is the entire inscription cut on the monument : 
" Here was buried Thomas Jefferson, author of the Declaration of American 
Independence, of the Statute of Virginia for Religious Freedom, and Father of 
the University of Virginia." 



ROBERT FULTON I/l 

Before Whitney invented his cotton-gin how much cotton did we 
send abroad ? How much do we send from New Orleans now ? Did 
we own New Orleans or Louisiana when Whitney invented his cotton- 
gin? Who bought them for us? Who was Thomas Jefferson? What 
is said about Monticello ? Tell how Jefferson's slaves welcomed him 
home. For what profession was Jefferson educated ? Tell about 
Patrick Henry. What did he say? What did Washington and Jef- 
ferson do ? What did Jefferson write ? What was he called ? How 
was the Declaration sent to all parts of the country? What was Jef- 
ferson chosen to be ? To whom did New Orleans and Louisiana then 
belong? How far did the United States then extend towards the west ? 
What could the French say? What were we like? What did Jeffer- 
son say ? Did we bay it ? How much did we pay ? How large was 
Louisiana then? How much land did we get? What else did 
we get? When did Jefferson die? What other great man died on the 
same day ? What words did Jefferson have cut on his gravestone at 
Monticello ? 



XXI. ROBERT FULTON 

(1765-1815) 

191. The Louisiana country ; a small family in a big house ; 
settlements in the west ; the country beyond the Mississippi 
River. — Even before we bought the great Louisiana 
country,^ we had more land than we then knew what to 
do with ; after we had purchased it, it seemed to some 
people as though we should not want to use what we 
had bought for more than a hundred years. Such people 
thought that we were like a man with a small family 
who lives in a house much too large for him ; but who, 
not contented with that, buys his neighbor's house, which 
is bigger still, and adds it to his own. 

If a traveller in those days went across the Alleghany 
Mountains 2 to the west, he found some small settlements 
in Ohio, Kentucky, and Tennessee, but hardly any out- 
side of those. The region which is now covered by 

See page 169. 2 See map, page 124. 



172 THE BEGINNER'S AMERICAN HISTORY 

the great states of Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, and 
Wisconsin was then a wilderness ; and this was true 
also of what are now the states of Alabama and 
Mississippi. 

If the same traveller, pushing forward, on foot or on 
horseback, — for there were no steam cars, — crossed 
the Mississippi River, he could hardly find a white man 
outside what was then the little town of St. Louis. The 
country stretched away west for more than a thousand 
miles, with nothing in it but wild beasts and Indians. 
In much of it there were no trees, no houses, no human 
beings. If you shouted as hard as you could in that soli- 
tary land, the only reply you would hear would be the 
echo of your own voice ; it was like shouting in an empty 
room — it made it seem lonelier than ever. 

192. Emigration to the west, and the man who helped that 
emigration. — But, during the last hundred years, that 
great empty land of the far west has been filling up 
with people. Thousands upon thousands of emigrants 
have gone there. They have built towns and cities 
and railroads and telegraph lines. Thousands more 
are going and will go. What has made such a won- 
derful change ? Well, one man helped to do a great 
deal toward it. His name was Robert Fulton. He 
saw how difficult it was for people to get west ; for if 
emigrants wanted to go with their families in wagons, 
they had to chop roads through the forests. That was 
slow, hard work. Fulton found a way that was quick, 
easy, and cheap. Let us see who he was, and how he 
found that way. 

193. Robert Fulton's boyhood ; the old scow ; what Robert 
did for his mother. — Robert Fulton was the son of a poor 



/ 




Robert Fulton's Paddle-Wheel Scow 



ROBERT FULTON 1/3 

Irish farmer in Pennsylvania.^ He did not care much 
for books, but liked to draw pictures with pencils which 
he hammered out of pieces of lead. 

Like most boys, he was fond of fishing. He used to 
go out in an old scow, or flat-bottomed boat, on a river 
near his home. He and another boy would push the 
scow along with poles. But Robert said, There is an 
easier way to make this boat go. I can put a pair of 
paddle-wheels on 
her, and then we 
can sit comfort- 
ably on the seat 
and turn the 
wheels by a crank. 
He tried it, and 
found that he was right. The boys now had a boat 
which suited them exactly. 

When P^obert was seventeen, he went to Philadelphia, 
His father was dead, and he earned his living and helped 
his mother and sisters by painting pictures. He staved 
in Philadelphia until he was twenty-one. By that time 
he had saved up money enough to buy a small farm for 
his mother, so that she might have a home of her own. 

194. Fulton goes to England and to France ; his iron bridges ; 
his diving-boat, and what he did with it in France. — Soon 
after buying the farm for his mother, young Fulton 
went to England and then to France. He stayed in those 
countries twenty years. In England Fulton built some 
famous iron bridges, but he was more interested in boats 
than in anything else. 

1 Fulton was bom in Little Britain (now called Fulton) in Lancaster County 
Pennsylvania. See map, page ii6. 



174 THE BEGINNER'S AMERICAN HISTORY 

While he was in France he made what he called a 
diving-boat. It would go under water nearly as well 
as it would on top, so that, wherever a big fish could 
go, Fulton could follow him. His object in building 
such a boat was to make war in a new way. When a 
swordfish^ attacks a whale, he slips round under him 
and stabs the monster with his sword. Fulton said, ' If 
an enemy's war-ship should come into the harbor to do 
mischief, I can get into my diving-boat, slip under the 
ship, fasten a torpedo^ to ,it, and blow the ship "sky 
high." ' 

Napoleon Bonaparte liked nothing so much as war ; 
and he let Fulton have an old vessel to see if he could 
blow it up. He tried it, and everything happened as he 
expected : nothing was left of the vessel but the pieces. 

195. What Fulton did in England with his diving-boat; 
what he said about America. — Then Fulton went back to 
England and tried the same thing there. He went out 
in his diving-boat and fastened a torpedo under a vessel ; 
when the torpedo exploded, the vessel, as he said, went 
up like a " bag of feathers," flying in all directions. 

The English people paid Fulton seventy-five thousand 
dollars for showing them what he could do in this way. 
Then they offered to give him a great deal more — in 
fact, to make him a very rich man — if he would promise 
never to let any other country know just how he blew 
vessels up. But Fulton said, ' I am an American ; and 
if America should ever want to use my diving-boat in 
war, she shall have it first of all.' (See also page 284.) 

1 Swordfish : the name given to a large fish which has a sword-like weapon, 
several feet in length, projecting from its uppsr jaw. 

2 Torpedo : here a can filled with powder, and so constructed that it could he 
fastened to the bottom of a vessel. 



ROBERT FULTON 



175 



196. Fulton makes his first steamboat. — But while Ful- 
ton was doing these things with his diving-boat, he was 
always thinking of the paddle-wheel scow he used to fish 
in when a boy. I turned those paddle-wheels by a crank, 
said he, but what is to hinder my putting a steam engine 
into such a boat, and making it turn the crank for me .-' 
that would be a steamboat. Such boats had already been 
tried, but, for one reason or another, they had not got on 
very well. Robert R. Livingston was still in France, and 
he helped Fulton build his first steamboat. It was put 
on a river there ; it moved, and that was about all. 

197. Robert Fulton and Mr. Livingston go to New York 
and build a steamboat ; the trip up the Hudson River. — But 
Robert Fulton and Mr. Livingston 
both believed that 
a steamboat could 
be built that would 
go, and that would 
keep going. So 
they went to New 
York and built 
one there. 

In the summer 
of 1807 a great 
crowd gathered 
to see the boat 
start on her voy- 
age up the Hud- 
son River. They 
joked and laughed as crowds will at anything new. They 
called Fulton a fool and Livingston another. But when 
Fulton, standing on the deck of his steamboat, waved his 




Fulton's Steamer on its Way to Albany 



176 THE BEGINNER'S AMERICAN HISTORY 

hand, and the wheels began to turn, and the vessel began 
to move up the river, then the crowd became silent with 
astonishment. Now it was Fulton's turn to laugh, and 
in such a case the man who laughs last has a right to 
laugh loudest. 

Up the river Fulton kept going. He passed the Pali- 
sades^ ; he passed the Highlands^ ; still he kept on, and 
at last he reached Albany, a hundred and fifty miles above 
New York. 

Nobody before had ever seen such a sight as that 
boat moving up the river without the help of oars or 
sails ; but from that time people saw it every day. 
When Fulton got back to New York in his steamboat, 
everybody wanted to shake hands with him. The 
crowd, instead of shouting fool, now whispered among 
themselves, He's a great man — a very great man, 
indeed. 

198. The first steamboat in the west ; the Great Shake. — • 
Four years later Fulton built a steamboat for the west. 
In the autumn of 18 11 it started from Pittsburgh to go 
down the Ohio River, and then down the Mississippi to 
New Orleans. The people of the west had never seen 
a steamboat before, and when the Indians saw the smoke 
puffing out, they called it the "Big Fire Canoe." 

On the way down the river, there was a terrible earth- 
quake. In some places it changed the course of the 
Ohio, so that where there had been dry land there was 
now deep water, and where there had been deep water 
there was now dry land. One evening the captain of 
the " Big Fire Canoe " fastened his vessel to a large tree 

1 See map on page 38. 2 See map on page 38. 

8 Pittsburg ; see map, page 124. 



ROBERT FULTON 



177 



on the end of an island. In the morning the people on the 
steamboat looked out, but could not tell where they were ; 
the island had gone : the earthquake had carried it away. 
The Indians called the earthquake the " Big Shake " : 
it was a good name, for it kept on shaking that part of 
the country, and doing all sorts of damage for weeks. 







The "Big Fire Canoe" on the Mississippi 



199. The "Big Fire Canoe" on the Mississippi; the fight 
between steam and the Great River ; what steamboats did ; 
Robert Fulton's grave. — When the steamboat reached the 
Mississippi, the settlers on that river said that the boat 
would never be able to go back, because the current was 
so strong. At one place a crowd had gathered to see 
her as she turned against the current, in order to come 
up to the landing-place. An old negro stood watching 
the boat. It looked as if, in spite of all the captain could 
do, she would be carried down stream, but at last steam 



178 THE BEGINNER'S AMERICAN HISTORY 

conquered, and the boat came up to the shore. Then 
the old negro could hold in no longer : he threw up his 
ragged straw hat and shouted, ' Hoo-ray ! hoo-ray ! the 
old Mississippi 's just got her master this time, sure ! ' 

Soon steamboats began to run regularly on the 
Mississippi ; and in the course of a few years they 
began to move up and down the Great Lakes and the 
Missouri River. Emigrants could now go to the west 
and the far west, quickly and easily : they had to thank 
Robert Fulton for that. 

Robert Fulton lies buried in New York, in the shadow 
of the tower of Trinity Church. There is no monument 
or mark over his grave ; but every steamboat on every 
great river and lake in America is really a monument 
to his memory. 

200. Summary. — In 1 807 Robert Fulton of Pennsyl- 
vania built the first steamboat which ran on the Hudson 
River, and four years later he built the first one which 
navigated the rivers of the west. His boats helped to 
fill the whole western country with settlers. 

What is said about the Louisiana country ? What did some people 
think we were like? What would a traveller going west then find? 
What is said of the country west of the Mississippi? Who helped 
emigration to the west ? What did he find ? Tell about Robert 
Fulton as a boy. Tell about his paddle-wheel scow. What did Robert 
do for his mother? Where did he go ? How long did he stay abroad ? 
Tell about his diving-boat. What did he do with it in France ? What 
in England ? What did the English people offer him ? What did 
Fulton say? Where did Fulton make and try his first steamboat? 
Tell about the steamboat he made in New York. How far up the 
Hudson did it go ? Tell about the first steamboat at the west. What 
did the Indians call it ? What happened on the way down the Ohio 
River ? Tell about the steamboat on the Mississippi River. What is 
said of steamboats at the west ? What about emigrants ? Where is 
Fulton buried ? Where is his monument ? 



GENERAL WILLIAM HENRY HARRISON 



179 



XXII. GENERAL WILLIAM HENRY 
HARRISON 

(1773-1841) 

201. War with the Indians ; how the Indians felt about being 
forced to leave their homes ; the story of the log. — - The year 
1 8 II, in which the first steamboat went west, a great 
battle was fought with the Indians. The battle-ground 
was on the Tippecanoe ^ River, in what is now the state 
of Indiana. 

The Indians fought because they wanted to keep the 
west for themselves. They felt as an old chief did, who 
had been forced by the white men to move many times. 
One day a military officer came to 
his wigwam to tell him that he and 
his tribe must go still further west. 
The chief said, General, let 's sit 
down on this log and talk it over. 
So they both sat down. After they 
had talked a short time, the chief 
said. Please move a little further 
that way; I haven't room enough. 
The officer moved along. In a few minutes the chief 
asked him to move again, and he did so. Presently the 
chief gave him a push and said, Do move further on, 
won't you .■* I can't, said the general. Why not ? asked 
the chief. Because I 've got to the end of the log, 
replied the officer. Well, said the Indian, now you see 
how it is with us. You white men have kept pushing us 




1 Tippecanoe (Tip-pe-ka-noo'). 



i8o 



THE BEGINNER'S AMERICAN HISTORY 






on until you have pushed us clear to the end of our coun- 
try, and yet you come now and say, Move on, move on. 
202. What Tecumseh^ and his brother, the " Prophet," " 
tried to do. — A famous Indian warrior named Tecumseh 
determined to band the different Indian tribes together, 

and drive out the 
'" *" white men from the 

west. 

Tecumseh had a 
brother called the 
"Prophet," who pre- 
tended he could tell 
what would happen 
in the future. He 
said. The white 
traders come here, 
give the Indians 
whiskey, get them 
drunk, and then 
cheat them out of 
their lands. Once 
we owned this whole 
country ; now, if an 
Indian strips a little 
bark from a tree to 
shelter him when it rains, a white man steps up, with a 
gun in his hani^and says. That 's my tree ; let it alone, 
or I '11 shoot you. 

Then the " Prophet " said to the red men, Stop drink- 
ing " fire-water," ^ and you will have strength to kill off 

1 Tecumseh (Te-kum'seh). 8 Fire-water : the Indian name for whiskey. 

2 Prophet (prof'et) : one who tells what will happen in the future. 




Move on " 



GENERAL WILLIAM HENRY HARRISON l8l 

the " pale-faces " and get your land back again. When 
you have killed them off, I will bless the earth. I will 
make pumpkins ^ grow to be as big as wigwams, and the 
corn shall be so large that one ear will be enough for a 
dinner for a dozen hungry Indians. The Indians liked 
to hear these things ; they wanted to taste those pump- 
kins and that corn, and so they got re^dy to fight. 

203. Who William Henry Harrison was ; the march to Tippe- 
canoe; the "Prophet's" sacred beans; the battle of Tippecanoe. 
— At this time William Henry Harrison ^ was governor 
of Indiana territory. He had fought under General 
Wayne ^ in his war with the Indians in Ohio. Every- 
body knew Governor Harrison's courage, and the Indians 
all respected him ; but he tried in vain to prevent the 
Indians from going to war. The " Prophet" urged them 
on at the north, and Tecumseh had gone south to per- 
suade the Indians there to join the northern tribes. 

Governor Harrison saw that a battle must soon be 
fought ; so he started with his soldiers to meet the 
Indians. He marched to the Tippecanoe River, and 
there he stopped. 

While Harrison's men were asleep in the woods, the 
"Prophet" told the Indians not to wait, but to attack 
the soldiers at once. In his hand he held up a string 
of beans. These beans, said he to the Indians, are 
sacred.^ Come and touch them, and you are safe ; no 
white man's bullet can hit you. The Indians hurried 
up in crowds to touch the wonderful beans. 

1 Pumpkins (pump'kins). 8 See page 155. 

2 William Henry Harrison was born in Berkeley, Charles City County, Virginia, 
about twenty-five miles below Richmond. His father, Governor Harrison of Vir- 
ginia, was one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence. The late Presi- 
dent Benjamin Harrison was grandson of General William Henry Harrison. 

* Sacred : something holy, or set apart for religious uses. 



l82 



THE BEGINNER'S AMERICAN HISTORY 



Now, said the " Prophet," let each one take his hatchet 
in one hand and his gun in the other, and creep through 
the tall grass till he gets to the edge of the woods. The 
soldiers lie there fast asleep ; when you get close to them, 
spring up and go for them, like a wild-cat for a rabbit. 




The Indians started 
to do this, but a soldier 
on guard saw the tall 
grass moving as though 
a great snake was glid- 
ing through it. He fired his gun at the moving grass ; 
up sprang the whole band of Indians, and, with a ter- 
rible yell, they rushed forward : in a moment the 
battle began, 

Harrison won the victory. He not only killed many 
of the Indians, but he marched against their village, set 
fire to it, and burned it to ashes. 



GENERAL WILLIAM HENRY HARRISON 1 83 

After that the Indians in that part of the country 
would not hsten to the " Prophet." They said, he is 
a liar ; his beans did n't save us. 

The battle of Tippecanoe did much good, because it 
prevented the Indian tribes from uniting and beginning 
a great war all through the west. Governor Harrison 
received high praise for what he had done, and was 
made a general in the United States army. 

204. Tecumseh takes the «< Prophet " by the hair; the "War 
of 1812 ; General Harrison's battle in Canada; President Harrison. 
— When Tecumseh came back from the south, he was 
terribly angry with his brother for fighting before he 
was ready to have him begin. He seized the " Prophet " 
by his long hair, and shook him as a terrier ^ shakes a 
rat. Tecumseh then left the United States and went to 
Canada to help the British, who were getting ready to 
fight us. 

The next year (18 12) we began our second war with 
England. It is called the War of 181 2. One of the 
chief reasons why we fought was that the British would 
not let our merchant ships alone ; they stopped them 
at sea, took thousands of our sailors out of them, and 
forced the men to serve in their war-ships in their battles 
against the French. 

In the course of the War of 18 12 the British burned 
the Capitol at Washington ; but a grander building rose 
from its ashes. General Harrison fought a battle in 
Canada in which he defeated the British and killed 
Tecumseh, who was fighting on the side of the English. 

Many years after this battle, the people of the west 
said. We must have the " Hero of Tippecanoe " for 

1 Terrier (ter'ri-er) : a kind of small hunting-dog. 



l84 THE BEGINNER'S AMERICAN HISTORY 

President of the United States. They went to vote 
for him, with songs ^ and shouts ; and he was elected. 
A month after he had gone to Washington, President 
Harrison died (1841), and the whole country was filled 
with sorrow. 

205. Summary. — In 18 ii General Harrison gained a 
great victory over the Indians at Tippecanoe, in Indiana. 
By that victory he saved the west from a terrible Indian 
war. In the War of 1812, with England, General Har- 
rison beat the British in a battle in Canada, and killed 
Tecumseh, the Indian chief who had made us so much 
trouble. Many years later General Harrison was elected 
President of the United States. 

Where was a great battle fought with the Indians in i8i i ? How did 
the Indians feel about the west ? Tell the story of the log. What did 
Tecumseh determine to do ? Tell about the " Prophet." Who was 
William Henry Harrison .-' Tell about the battle of Tippecanoe. Tell 
about the sacred beans. What did the Indians say about the " Prophet" 
after the battle .■' What good did the battle of Tippecanoe do ? What 
did Tecumseh do when he got back ? Where did he then go ? What 
happened in 1812? Why did we fight the British? What did General 
Harrison do in Canada ? What did the people of the west say .'' How 
long did General Harrison live after he became President ? 



XXIII. GENERAL ANDREW JACKSON 

(1767-1845) 

206. Andrew Jackson and the War of 1812 ; his birthplace ; 
his school ; wrestling-matches ^ ; firing off the gun. — The 

greatest battle, on land, of our second war with Eng- 
land — the War of 1 8 1 2 — was fought by General 
Andrew Jackson. 

1 The chorus of one of the most famous of these songs ended with the words : 
" Tippecanoe ! and Tyler too! " (Tyler was the name of the candidate for Vice 
President.^ 2 Wrestling (res'ling). 



GENERAL ANDREW JACKSON 185 

He was the son of a poor emigrant who came from 
the North of Ireland and settled in North Carolina.^ 
When Thomas Jefferson wrote the Declaration of Inde- 
pendence in 1776, Andrew was nine years old, and his 
father had long been dead. He was a tall, slender, 
freckled-faced, barefooted boy, with eyes full of fun ; 
the neighbors called him " Mischievous little Andy." 

He went to school in a log hut in the pine woods ; 
but he learned more things from what he saw in the 
woods than from the books he studied in school. 

He was not a very strong boy, and in wrestling some 
of his companions could throw him three times out of 
four ; but though they could get him down without much 
trouble, it was quite another thing to keep him down. 
No sooner was he laid flat on his back, than he bounded 
up like a steel spring, and stood ready to try again. 

He had a violent ^ temper, and when, as the boys said, 
"Andy got mad all over," not many cared to face him. 
Once some of his playmates secretly loaded an old gun 
almost up to the muzzle, and then dared him to fire it. 
They wanted to see what he would say when it kicked 
him over. Andrew fired the gun. It knocked him 
sprawling ; he jumped up with eyes blazing with anger, 
and shaking his fist, cried out, " If one of you boys laughs, 
I '11 kill him." He looked as though he meant exactly 
what he said, and the boys thought that perhaps it would 
be just as well to wait and laugh some other day. 

207. Tarleton's ^ attack on the Americans ; how Andrew helped 
his mother. — When Andrew was thirteen, he learned 

1 He settled in Union County, North Carolina, very near the South Carolina 
line. See map, page 124. Mecklenburg Court House is in the next county 
west of Union County. Jackson himself insisted that he was born in South 
Carolina. 2 Violent : fierce, furious. 8 Tarleton (Tarl'ton). 



1 86 THE BEGINNER'S AMERICAN HISTORY 

what war means. The country was then fighting the 
battles of the Revolution. A British officer named 
Tarleton came suddenly upon some American soldiers 
near the place where young Jackson lived. Tarleton 
had so many men that the Americans saw that it was 
useless to try to fight, and they made no attempt to do 
so. The British should have taken them all prisoners ; 
but, instead of that, they attacked them furiously, and 
hacked and hewed them with their swords. More than 
a hundred of our men were left dead, and a still larger 
number were so horribly wounded that they could not 
be moved any distance. Such an attack was not war, 
for war means a fair, stand-up fight ; it was murder : 
and when the people in England heard what Tarleton 
had done, many cried Shame ! 

There was a little log meeting-house near Andrew's 
home, and it was turned into a hospital for the wounded 
men. Mrs. Jackson, with other kind-hearted women, did 
all she could for the poor fellows who lay there groaning 
and helpless. Andrew carried food and water to them. 
He had forgotten many of the lessons he had learned at 
school ; but here was something he would never forget. 

208. Andrew's hatred of the "red-coats"^; Tarleton's sol- 
diers meet their match. — From that time, when young 
Jackson went to the blacksmith's shop to get a hoe 
or a spade mended, he was sure to come back with a 
rude spear, or with some other weapon, which he had 
hammered out to fight the "red-coats" with. 

Tarleton said that no people in America hated the 
British so much as those who lived in that part of the 

1 Red-coats : this nickname was given by the Americans to the British soldiers 
because they wore bright red coats. 



GENERAL ANDREW JACKSON 1 8/ 

country where Andrew Jackson had his home. The 
reason was that no other British officer was so cruel 
as "Butcher Tarleton," as he was called. Once, how- 
ever, his men met their match. They were robbing 
a farm of its pigs and chickens and corn and hay. 
When they got through carrying things off, they were 
going to burn down the farm-house ; but one of the 
** red-coats," in his haste, ran against a big hive of 
bees and upset it. The bees were mad enough. They 
swarmed down on the soldiers, got into their ears and 
eyes, and stung them so terribly that at last the rob- 
bers were glad to drop everything and run. If Andrew 
could have seen that battle, he would have laughed till 
he cried. 

209. Dangerous state of the country ; the roving bands. — 
Andrew knew that he and his mother lived in constant 
danger. Part of the people in the state of North Caro- 
lina were in favor of the king, and part were for liberty. 
Bands of armed men, belonging sometimes to one side, 
and sometimes to the other, went roving about the 
country. When they met a farmer, they would stop 
him and ask, ' Which side are you for ? ' If he did not 
answer to suit them, the leader of the party would cry 
out, Hang him up ! In an instant one of the band would 
cut down a long piece of wild grape-vine, twist it into 
a noose, and throw it over the man's head ; the next 
moment he would be dangling from the limb of a tree. 
Sometimes the band would let him down again, while he 
was still alive ; sometimes they would ride on and leave 
him hanging there. 

210. Playing at battle ; what Tarleton heard about himself. 
— Even the children saw and heard so much of the war 



1 88 THE BEGINNER'S AMERICAN HISTORY 

that was going on that they played at war, and fought 
battles with red and white corn, — red for the British 
and white for the Americans. 

At the battle of Cowpens ^ Colonel William Wash- 
ington 2 fought on the American side, and Tarleton got 
badly whipped and had to run. Not long afterward he 
happened to see some boys squatting on the ground, 
with a lot of corn instead of marbles. They were play- 
ing the battle of Cowpens. A red kernel stood for 
Tarleton, and a white one for Colonel Washington. 
The boys shoved the corn this way and that ; sometimes 
the red would win, sometimes the white. At last the 
white kernel gained the victory, and the boys shouted, 
"Hurrah for Washington — Tarleton runs!" 

Tarleton had been quietly looking on without their 
knowing it. When he saw how the game ended, he 
turned angrily away. He had seen enough of " the 
little rebels,"^ as he called them. 

211. Andrew is taken prisoner by the British; "Here, boy, 
clean those boots " ; the two scars. — Not long after our vic- 
tory at Cowpens, Andrew Jackson was taken prisoner by 
the British. The officer in command of the soldiers had 
just taken off his boots, splashed with mud. Pointing 
to them, he said to Andrew, Here, boy, clean those boots. 
Andrew replied, Sir, I am a prisoner of war, and it is not 
my place to clean boots. The officer, in a great passion. 



1 Cowpens ; see map, page 124. 

2 Colonel William Washington was a relative of General George Washington. 
S Rebels: this was the name which the British gave to the Americans because 

we had been forced to take up arms to overthrow the authority of the English 
king, who was still lawfully, but not justly, the ruler of this country. Had he 
been a just and upright ruler, there would probably have been no rebellion against 
his authority at that time. 



GENERAL ANDREW JACKSON 



189 



whipped out his sword and struck a blow at the boy. It 
cut a gash on his head and another on his hand. Andrew 
Jackson Hved to be an old man, but the marks of that 
blow never disappeared : he carried 
the scars to his grave. 

212. The prisoners in 
the yard of Camden 
jail; seeing a battle ^ 
through a knot-hole. 
— Andrew was 
sent, with other 
prisoners, to Cam- 
den,^ South Caro- 
lina, and shut up in 
the jail-yard. There 
many fell sick and 
died of small-pox. 

One day some of 

the prisoners heard 

that General 

Greene — the 

greatest American , ^ . o 

® . Jackson and the Officer s Boots 

general in the 

Revolution, next to Washington — was coming to fight 
the British at Camden. Andrew's heart leaped for joy, 
for he knew that if General Greene should win he 
would set all the prisoners at liberty. 

General Greene with his little army was on a hill in 
sight of the jail ; but there was a high, tight board fence 
round the jail-yard, and the prisoners could not see them. 
With the help of an old razor Andrew managed to dig 

1 Camden ; see map, page 124. 




IQO THE BEGINNER'S AMERICAN HISTORY 

out a knot from one of the boards. Through that knot- 
hole he watched the battle of Hobkirk's Hill.^ 

Our men were beaten in the fight, and Andrew saw 
their horses, with empty saddles, running wildly about. 
Then the boy turned away, sick at heart. Soon after 
that he was seized with the small-pox, and would have 
died of it if his mother had not succeeded in getting 
him set free. 

213. Mrs. Jackson goes to visit the American prisoners at 
Charleston ; Andrew loses his best friend ; what he said of her. 
— In the summer Mrs. Jackson made a journey on horse- 
back to Charleston, a hundred and sixty miles away. She 
went to carry some little comforts to the poor American 
prisoners, who were starving and dying of disease in the 
crowded and filthy British prison-ships in the harbor. 
While visiting these unfortunate men, she caught the 
fever which raged among them. Two weeks later she 
was in her grave, and Andrew, then a lad of fourteen, 
stood alone in the world. 

Years afterward, when he had risen to be a noted man, 
people would sometimes praise him because he was never 
afraid to say and do what he believed to be right ; then 
Jackson would answer, "That I learned from my good old 
mother." 

214. Andrew begins to learn a trade ; he studies law and 
goes west ; Judge Jackson ; General Jackson. — Andrew set 
to work to learn the saddler's trade, but gave it up and 
began to study law. After he became a lawyer he went 
across the mountains to Nashville, Tennessee. There 
he was made a judge. There were plenty of rough men 
in that part of the country who meant to have their own 

1 Also called the second battle of Camden. 



GENERAL ANDREW JACKSON I91 

way in all things ; but they soon found that they must 
respect and obey Judge Jackson. They could frighten 
other judges, but it was no use to try to frighten him. 
Seeing what sort of stuff Jackson was made of, they 
thought that they should like to have such a man to lead 
them in battle. And so Judge Andrew Jackson became 
General Andrew Jackson. When trouble came with the 
Indians, Jackson proved to be the very man they needed. 

215. Tecumseh and the Indians of Alabama ; Tecumseh 
threatens to stamp his foot on the ground ; the earthquake ; 
war begins. — We have already seen how the Indian chief 
Tecumseh ^ went south to stir up the red men to make 
war on the white settlers in the west. In Alabama he 
told the Indians, that if they fought, they would gain a 
great victory. I see, said Tecumseh to them, that you 
don't believe what I say, and that you don't mean to 
fight. Well, I am now going north to Detroit. When 
I get there I shall stamp my foot on the ground, and 
shake down every wigwam you have. It so happened 
that, shortly after Tecumseh had gone north, a sharp 
shock of earthquake was felt in Alabama, and the wig- 
wams were actually shaken down by it. When the 
terrified Indians felt their houses falling to pieces, 
they ran out of them shouting, " Tecumseh has got to 
Detroit ! " 

These Indians now believed all that Tecumseh had 
said ; they began to attack the white people, and they 
killed a great number of them. 

216. Jackson conquers the Indians; the "Holy Ground"; 
Weathersford and Jackson ; feeding the starving. — General 
Jackson marched against the Indians and beat them in 

1 Tecumseh ; see page 180. 



k 



192 



THE BEGINNER'S AMERICAN HISTORY 



JLl^ 



battle. The Indians that escaped fled to a place they 
called the " Holy Ground." They believed that if a 
white man dared to set his foot on that ground he 
would be struck dead, as if by a flash of lightning. 
General Jackson and his men marched on to the " Holy 
Ground," and the Indians soon found that, unless they 

made peace, they 
would be the ones 
who would be 
struck dead by his 
bullets. 

Not long after 
this, a noted leader 
of the Indians, 
named Weathers- 
ford, rode ' boldly 
up to Jackson's 
tent. "Kill him! 
kill him ! " cried 
Jackson's men ; 
but the general 
asked Weathers- 
ford into his tent. 
" You can kill me 
if you want to," said he to Jackson, "but I came to tell 
you that the Indian women and children are starving 
in the woods, and to ask you to help them, for they 
never did you any harm." General Jackson sent away 
Weathersford in safety, and ordered that corn should 
be given to feed the starving women and children. 
That act showed that he was as merciful as he was 
brave. 




General Jackson and the Indian Chief 



GENERAL ANDREW JACKSON I93 

217. The British send war-ships to take New Orleans ; the 
great battle and the great victory. — These things happened 
during our second war with England, or the War of 18 12. 
About a year after Jackson's victory over the Indians, 
the British sent an army in ships to take New Orleans. 

General Jackson now went to New Orleans, to prevent 
the enemy from getting possession of the city. 

About four miles below the city, which stands on the 
Mississippi River,^ there was a broad, deep ditch, running 
from the river into a swamp. Jackson saw that the Brit- 
ish would have to cross that ditch when they marched 
against the city. For that reason he built a high bank 
on the upper side of the ditch, and placed cannon along 
the top of the bank. 

Early on Sunday morning, January 8, 181 5, the British 
sent a rocket whizzing up into the sky ; a few minutes 
afterward they sent up a second one. It was the signal 
that they were about to march to attack us. 

Just before the fight began, General Jackson walked 
along among his men, who were getting ready to defend 
the ditch. He said to them, " Stand to your guns ; see 
that every shot tells : give it to them, boys ! " The 
"boys" did give it to them. The British soldiers were 
brave men ; they had been in many terrible battles, and 
they were not afraid to die. They fought desperately; 
they tried again and again to cross that ditch and climb 
the bank, but they could not do it. The fire of our guns 
cut them down just as a mower cuts down the tall grain 
with his scythe.^ In less than half an hour the great battle 
was over ; Jackson had won the victory and saved New 
Orleans. We lost only eight killed ; the enemy lost over 

1 See map on page 194. 2 Scythe (sithe). 



194 



THE BEGINNER'S AMERICAN HISTORY 



two thousand.^ We have never had a battle since with 
England ; it is to be hoped that we never shall have another, 
for two great nations^ like England and America, that 
speak the same language, ought to be firm and true friends. 
218. We buy Florida ; General Jackson made President of 
the United States ; the first railroad. — After the battle of 
New Orleans, General Jackson conquered the Indians in 




The light parts of this map show the extent of the United States in 1819, after we 
had bought and added Florida. The black and white bars in the northwest show 
that the ownership of the Oregon Country was still in dispute between the United 
States and Great Britain. 

Florida ; and in 1 8 19 we bought that country of Spain, 
and so made the United States much larger on the south. 
This was our second great land purchase.^ 

Ten years after we got Florida, General Jackson became 
President of the United States. He had fought his way 

1 Killed and wounded. 

2 Nations : a nation is a people born in the same country and living under 
the same government ; as the American nation, the French nation, the English 
nation. 3 For our first land purchase, see page i68. 




Battle of New Orleans 



(By Act of Congress of 1 794 the number of stars and stripes on the national flag was 
fixed at fifteen, to correspond with the whole number of states then in the Union ; 
the flag remained unchanged until 1 81 8, when the rresent arrangement was 
adcpted, namely, thirteen stripes, and a star for eveiy state.) 



GENERAL ANDREW JACKSON 



195 



Up. Here are the four steps : first the boy, "Andy 
Jackson"; then "Judge Jackson"; then "General Jack- 
son"; last of all, "President Jackson." 

Shortly after he became the chief ruler of the nation, the 
first steam railroad in the United States was built (1830). 




The Georgetown Loop 
(Near Georgetown, Colorado.) 



From that time such roads kept creeping further and fur- 
ther west. The Indians had frightened the white settlers 
with their terrible war-whoop. Now it was their turn to 
be frightened, for the locomotive whistle^ could beat their 
wildest yell. They saw that the white man was coming 

1 The first steam railroad built in the United States extended from Baltimore 
to Ellicott's Mills, Maryland, a distance of twelve miles. It was opened in 1830. 
It forms a part of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad. 



196 THE BEGINNER'S AMERICAN HISTORY 

as fast as steam could carry him, and that he was deter- 
mined to get possession of the whole land. The greater 
part of the Indians moved across the Mississippi ; but 
the white man kept following them, and following the 
buffalo, further and further across the country, toward 
the Pacific Ocean ; and the railroad followed in the white 
man's track, 

219. Summary. — Andrew Jackson of North Carolina, 
but -later a citizen of Tennessee, gained a great victory 
over the Indians in Alabama and also in Florida. In 
18 1 5, in our second war with England, General Jackson 
whipped the British at New Orleans, and so prevented 
their getting possession of that city. A few years later 
we bought Florida of Spain. 

After General Jackson became President of the United 
States, the first steam railroad was built in this country. 
Railroads helped to settle the west and build up states 
beyond the Mississippi. 

Who fought the greatest battle on land of the War of 1812 ? Tell 
about Andrew Jackson's boyhood. Tell the story of the gun. Tell 
about Tarleton. What did Mrs. Jackson do ? What did Andrew do ? 
What did Andrew use to do at the blacksmith shop.-" 

Tell about Tarleton's men and the bees. What did bands of armed 
men use to do in the country where Andrew lived ? Tell about play- 
ing at battle. What did Tarleton say ? Tell about Andrew and the 
boots. Tell how he saw a battle through a knot-hole. Tell how 
Andrew's mother died. What did he say about her? Tell about 
Andrew Jackson as a judge. Why was he made a general ? Tell 
about Tecumseh and the Alabama Indians. After General Jackson 
had beaten the Indians, where did they go ? What is said about the 
" Holy Ground " ? What about Jackson and Weathersford ? Tell 
about the great battle of New Orleans. Who gained the victory? 
When did we buy Florida? What were the four steps in Andrew 
Jackson's life? What is said about railroads? 



PROFESSOR MORSE 



197 



XXIV. PROFESSOR MORSE 

(1791-1872) 

220. How they sent the news of the completion of the Erie 
Canal to New York City ; Franklin and Morse. — The Erie 
Canal, in the state of New York, connects the Hudson 
River at Albany with Lake Erie at Buffalo. It is the 
greatest work of the kind in America, and was completed 
many years ago. When the water was let into the canal 
from the lake, the news was flashed from Buffalo to New 
York City by a row of cannon, about five miles apart, 




How THEY FLASHED THE NeWS OF THE COMPLETION OF THE 

Erie Canal in 1825 



which were fired as rapidly as possible, one after the 
other. The first cannon was fired at Buffalo at ten o'clock 
in the morning ; the last was fired at New York at half- 
past eleven. In an hour and a half the sound had trav- 
elled over five hundred miles. Everybody said that was 
wonderfully quick work ; but to-day we could send the 
news in less than a minute. The man who found out 
how to do this was Samuel F. B. Morse. 

We have seen how Benjamin Franklin ^ discovered, 
by means of his kite, that lightning and electricity are 

I See page 100. 



198 THE BEGINNER'S AMERICAN HISTORY 

the same. Samuel Morse was born in Charlestown,^ 
Massachusetts, about a mile from Franklin's birthplace, 
the year after that great man died. He began his work 
where Franklin left off. He said to himself. Dr. Frank- 
lin found out what lightning is ; I will find out how to 
harness it and make it carry news and deliver messages.^ 

221. Morse becomes a painter ; what he thought might be 
done about sending messages. — When Samuel Morse was a 
little boy, he was fond of drawing pictures, particularly 
faces ; if he could not get a pencil, he would scratch them 
with a pin on the furniture at school : the only pay he got 
for making such pictures was some smart raps from the 
teacher. After he became a man he learned to paint. 
At one time he lived in France with several other Ameri- 
can artists. One day they were talking of how long it 
took to get letters from America, and they were wishing 
the time could be shortened. Somebody spoke of how 
cannon had been used at the time of the opening of the 
Erie Canal. Morse was familiar with all that ; he had 
been educated at Yale College, and he knew that the 
sound of a gun will travel a mile while you are counting 
five; but, quick as that is, he wanted to find something 
better and quicker still. He said. Why not try lightning 
or electricity .-* That will beat sound, for that will go 
more than a thousand miles while you are counting one. 

222. What a telegraph^ is; a wire telegraph; Professor 
Morse invents the electric telegraph. — Some time after 
that, Mr. Morse set sail for America. On the way 
across the Atlantic he was constantly talking about 

1 Charlestown is now a part of the city of Boston. 

2 Messages : a message is any word sent by one person to another. 

3 Telegraph (tel' e-graf ) : this name is made up of two Greek words, the first 
of which means far off, and the second to -write. 






PROFESSOR MORSE I99 

electricity and how a telegraph — that is, a machine 
which would write at a distance — might be invented. 
He thought about this so much that he could not sleep 
nights. At last he believed that he saw how he could 
make such a machine. 

Suppose you take a straight and stiff piece of wire as 
long as your desk and fasten it in the middle so that the 
ends will swing easily. Next, tie a pencil tight to each 
end ; then put a sheet of paper under the point of each pen- 
cil. Now, if you make a mark with the pencil nearest to 
you, you will find that the pencil at the other end of the 
wire will make the same kind of mark. Such a wire would 




One Kind of Telegfiaph 

be a kind of telegraph, because it would make marks or 
signs at a distance. Mr. Morse said: I will have a wire 
a mile long, with a pencil, or something sharp-pointed 
like a pencil, fastened to the further end; the wire itself 
shall not move at all, but the pencil shall, for I will 
make electricity run along the wire and move it. Mr. 
Morse was then a professor or teacher in the University 
of the City of New York. He put up such a wire in 
one of the rooms of the building, sent the electricity 
through it, and found that it made the pencil make just 
the marks he wanted it should; that meant that he had 
invented the electric telegraph; for if he could do this 
over a mile of wire, then what was to hinder his doing it 
over a hundred or even a thousand miles } 



200 



THE BEGINNER'S AMERICAN HISTORY 



223. How Professor Morse lived while he was making his 
telegraph. — But all this was not done in a day, for this 
invention cost years of patient labor. At first, Mr. 
Morse lived in a little room by himself : there he worked 

and ate, when he could 
get anything to eat ; and 
slept, if he was n't too 
tired to sleep. Later, 
he had a room in the 
university. While he 
was there he painted 
pictures to get money 
enough to buy food ; 
there, too (1839), he 
took the first photo- 
graph ever made in 
America. Yet, with 
all his hard work, 
there were times when 
he had to go hungry ; 
and once he told a 
young man that if he 
did not get some 
money he should be 
dead in a week — 
dead of starvation. 
224. Professor Morse gets help about his telegraph ; what 
Alfred Vail did. — But better times were coming. A 
young man named Alfred VaiP happened to see 

1 Alfred Vail : he was the son of Stephen Vail (commonly known as Judge 
Vail), owner of the Speedwell iron- works, near Morristown, New Jersey. Judge 
Vail built the engines of the Savannah, the first steamship which crossed the 
Atlantic. 




Professor Morse at Work making 
HIS Telegraph 



PROFESSOR MORSE 20I 

Professor Morse's telegraph. He believed it would be 
successful. He persuaded his father, Judge Vail, to 
lend him two thousand dollars, and he became Professor 
Morse's partner in the work. Mr. Vail was an excellent 
mechanic, and he made many improvements in the tele- 
graph. He then made a model ^ of it at his own 
expense, and took it to Washington and got a patent ^ 
for it in Professor Morse's name. The invention was 
now safe in one way, for no one else had the right to 
make a telegraph like his. Yet, though he had this 
help, Professor Morse did not get on very fast, for a few 
years later he said, " I have not a cent in the world ; I 
am crushed for want of means." 

225. Professor Morse asks Congress to help him build a 
telegraph line ; what Congress thought. — Professor Morse 
now asked Congress to let him have thirty thousand 
dollars to construct a telegraph line from Washington 
to Baltimore. He felt sure that business men would be 
glad to send messages by telegraph, and to pay him for 
his work. But many members of Congress laughed at 
it, and said they might as well give Professor Morse the 
money to build "a railroad to the moon." 

Week after week went by, and the last day that Con- 
gress would sit was reached, but still no money had been 
granted. Then came the last night of the last day 

1 Model : a small copy or representation of something. Professor Morse 
made a small telegraph and exhibited it in Washington, to show what his large 
telegraph would be like. 

2 Patent : a written or printed right given by the government at Washington 
to an inventor to make something ; as, for instance, a telegraph or a sewing- 
machine. The patent forbids any one except the inventor, or holder of the 
patent, from making such a machine, and so he gets whatever money comes 
from his work. In order to get a patent, a man must send a model of his inven- 
tion to be placed in the Patent Office at Washington. 



202 THE BEGINNER'S AMERICAN HISTORY 

(March 3, 1843). Professor Morse stayed in the Senate 
Chamber 1 of Congress until after ten o'clock ; then, tired 
and disappointed, he went back to his hotel, thinking that 
he must give up trying to build his telegraph line. 

226. Miss Annie Ellsworth brings good news. — The next 
morning Miss Annie G. Ellsworth met him as he was 
coming down to breakfast. She was the daughter of 
his friend who had charge of the Patent Office in Wash- 
ington. She came forward with a smile, grasped his- 
hand, and said that she had good news for him, that 
Congress had decided to let him have the money. 
Surely you must be mistaken, said the professor, for I 
waited last night until nearly midnight, and came away 
because nothing had been done. But, said the young lady, 
my father stayed until it was quite midnight, and a few 
minutes before the clock struck twelve Congress voted ^ 
the money ; it was the very last thing that was done. 

Professor Morse was then a gray-haired man over 
fifty. He had worked hard for years, and had got noth- 
ing for his labor. This was his first great success. He 
doesn't say whether he laughed or cried — perhaps he 
felt a little like doing both. 

227. The first telegraph line built ; the first message sent ; 
the telegraph and the telephone ^ now. — When, at lengthy 

1 Senate Chamber : Congress (or the body of persons chosen to make the 
laws of the United States) is divided into two classes, — Representatives and 
Senators; they meet in different rooms or chambers in the Capitol at Wash- 
ington. 2 Voted : here .this word means given or granted. 

3 Telephone (tel'e-fone ) : this name is made up of two Greek words, the first 
of which means far off, and the second, a voice or sound. The telephone was 
invented by Professor Alexander G.Bell of Boston; he completed it in 1876. 
Professor Bell now lives in Washington. The late Elisha Gray of Illinois while 
living in Cleveland, Ohio, invented a telephone the same year that Professor 
Bell invented his; but the Bell telephone was the first one patented which 
became practically successful. 



PROFESSOR MORSE 203 

Professor Morse did speak, he said to Miss Ellsworth, 
■" Now, Annie, when my line is built from Washington to 
Baltimore, you shall send the first message over it." 
In the spring of 1844 the line was completed, and Miss 
Ellsworth, by Professor Morse, sent these words over it 
(they are words taken from the Bible) : " IV/ta^ hath 
God wrought / " ^ 

For nearly a year after that the telegraph was free to 
all who wished to use it ; then a small charge was made, 
a very short message costing only one cent. On the 
first of April, 1845, a man came into the office and 
bought a cent's worth of telegraphing. That was all 




How A Message by Telegraph is sent^ 

the money which was taken that day for the use of forty 
miles of wire. Now there are about two million miles 
of telegraph wire in the United States, or enough to reach 
nearly eighty times round the earth, and the messages 
sent probably bring in a hundred thousand dollars a day. 
We can telegraph not only across America, but across 
the Atlantic Ocean, and even to China, by a line laid 
under the sea.^ Professor Morse's invention made it pos- 
sible to write by electricity ; but now, by means of the 

1 See Numbers xxiii. 23. 

2 When the button at Chicago is pressed down, the electricity passing over 
the wire to Denver presses the point there down on the paper, and so makes a 
dot or dash which stands for a letter on the roll of paper as it passes under it. 
In this way words and messages are spelled out. The message on the strip of 
paper above is the question, How is trade ? 8 See also page 271. 



204 THE BEGINNER'S AMERICAN HISTORY 

telephone,^ a man in New York or Boston can talk with 
any one in Chicago, St, Louis, San Francisco, or in many 
other large cities, and the man listening at the other 
end of the wire can hear him and can talk with him in 
the same way. Professor Morse did not live to see this 
wonderful invention, which, in some ways, is an improve- 
ment even on his telegraph. (See the account of how 
Professor Alexander G. Bell invented the telephone, on 
page 289.) 

228. Summary. — Professor Morse invented the elec- 
tric telegraph. He received much help from Mr. Alfred 
Vail. In 1844, Professor Morse and Mr. Vail built 
the first line of telegraph in the United States, or in the 
world. It extended from Washington to Baltimore. The 
telegraph makes it possible for us to send a written mes- 
sage thousands of miles in a moment ; by the telephone, 
which was invented by Professor Bell after Professor 
Morse's death, we can talk with people who are hun- 
dreds, yes, thousands, of miles away and hear what they 
say in reply. 

Tell how they sent the news of the completion of the Erie Canal. 
What did Samuel Morse say to himself ? Tell about Morse as a painter. 
What did he want to find .'' What was he talking about on his voyage 
back to America ? What is a telegraph .'' How can you make a small 
wire telegraph ? What did Professor Morse make ? How did he live .'' 
What did he do in 1839 ? How did he get help about his telegraph ? 
What did he ask Congress to do ? What did some men in Congress 
say ? What news did Miss Annie Ellsworth bring him ? What was 
the first message sent by telegraph in 1844 ? How many miles of tele- 
graph are there now in the United States ? Is there a telegraph line 
under the sea ? What is said about the telephone .'' 

1 There are now more than twenty millions of miles of telephone wire in use 
in the United States. 



GENERAL SAM HOUSTON 20$ 

XXV. GENERAL SAM HOUSTON 

(1793-1863) 

229. Sam Houston and the Indians ; Houston goes to live 
with the Indians. — When General Jackson whipped the 
Indians in Alabama,^ a young man named Sam Houston ^ 
fought under Jackson and was terribly wounded. It was 
thought that the brave fellow would certainly die, but 
his strong will carried him through, and he lived to 
make himself a great name in the southwest. 

Although Houston fought the Indians, yet, when a 
boy, he was very fond of them, and spent much of his 
time with them in the woods of Tennessee. 

Long after he became a man, this love of the wild life 
led by the red men in the forest came back to him. 
While Houston was governor of Tennessee (1829) he 
suddenly made up his mind to leave his home and his 
friends, go across the Mississippi River, and take up his 
abode with an Indian tribe in that part of the country. 
The chief, who had known him as a boy, gave him a 
hearty welcome. " Rest with us," he said ; " my wig- 
wam is yours." Houston stayed with the tribe three 
years. 

230. Houston goes to Texas ; what he said he would do ; the 
murders at Alamo ^ ; the flag with one star ; what Houston did ; 
Texas added to the United States ; our war with Mexico. — At 
the end of that time he said to a friend, " I am going to 
Texas, and in that new country I will make a man of 

1 See page 191. 3 Alamo (Al'a-mo). 

2 Sam Houston (Hew'ston) : he always wrote his name Sam Houston ; he 
was born near Lexington in Rockbridge County, Virginia. 



2o6 



THE BEGINNER'S AMERICAN HISTORY 



myself." Texas then belonged to Mexico ; and President 
Andrew Jackson had tried in vain to buy it as Jefferson 
bought Louisiana.^ Houston said, " I will make it part of 
the United States," About twenty thousand Americans 
had already moved into Texas, and they felt as he did. 

War broke out between Texas and Mexico, and General 
Sam Houston led the Texan soldiers in their fight for 




Remember the Alamo 1 



independence. He had many noted American pioneers ^ 
and hunters in his little army : one of them was the 
brave Colonel Travis ^ of Alabama ; another was Colonel 



1 See page 168. 8 Travis (Tra'vis). 

2 Pioneers : tliose who go before to prepare the way for others ; the first 
settlers in a country are its pioneers. 



GENERAL SAM HOUSTON 



207 



Bowie ^ of Louisiana, the inventor of the " bowie knife " ; 
still another was Colonel David Crockett of Tennessee, 
whose motto is a good one for every young American — 
"Be sure you're right, then — go ahead.'' Travis, 
Bowie, and Crockett, with a small force, held Fort 
Alamo, an old Spanish church in San Antonio.^ The 
Mexicans stormed the fort in overwhelming numbers 
and killed every man in it. 

Not long after that. General Houston fought a great 
battle near the place where now stands the city called by 
his name.^ The Mexicans had more than two men to 
every one of Houston's ; but the Americans and Texans 
went into battle shouting the terrible cry ^'Remember 
the Alamo !'' and the Mexicans fled before them, like 
frightened sheep. Texas then became an independent 
state, and elected General Houston president. The 
people of Texas raised a flag having on it a single star. 
For this reason the state was 
sometimes called, as it still is, 
the "Lone Star State." 

Texas was not contented to 
stand alone ; she begged the 
United States to add her to its 
great and growing family of 
states. This was done* in 1845. 
But, as we shall presently see, 
a war soon broke out (1846) 
between the United States and Mexico, and when that 
war was ended we obtained a great deal more land at 
the west. 




The " Lone Star " 
Flag 



1 Bowie (Bow'e) . 

2 San Antonio (San An-to'ne-6). 



8 See map on page 208. 
4 See map on page 208. 



208 



THE BEGINNER'S AMERICAN HISTORY 



231. General Sam Houston in the great war between the 
North and the South ; what he said. — We have seen the 
part which General Sam Houston took in getting new 
country to add to the United States. He Hved in Texas 
for many years after that. When, in 1861, the great 
war broke out between the North and the South, Gen- 
eral Houston was governor of the state. He withdrew 




Map showing the extent of the United States after we added Texas in 1845. The 
black and white bars show that the ownership of the Oregon Country was still in 
dispute between the United States and Great Britain. 



from office, and went home to his log cabin in Hunts- 
ville. He refused to take any part in the war, for he 
loved the Union, — that is, the whole country, North 
and South together, — and he said to his wife, " My 
heart is broken." Before the war ended, he was laid in 
his grave. ^ 

1 General Houston was buried at Huntsville, about eighty miles northwest of 
the city of Houston, Texas. 



CAPTAIN ROBERT GRAY 209 

232. Summary. — General Sam Houston of Tennessee 
led the people of Texas in their war against Mexico. 
The Texans gained the victory, and made their country 
an independent state with General Houston as its presi- 
dent. After a time Texas was added to the United 
States. We then had a war with Mexico, and added 
a great deal more land at the west. General Houston 
died during the war between the North and the South. 

Tell about Sam Houston and the Indians. Where did Houston go 
after he became governor of Tennessee ? Where did Houston go next ? 
What did he say he would do about Texas ? What was David 
Crockett's motto ? What is said about Fort Alamo ? What about the 
battle with the Mexicans ? What did Texas become ? To what office 
was Houston elected ? What is said of the Texas flag ? When was 
Texas added to the United States? What war then broke out? 
What did we get by that war ? What is said of General Houston in 
the great war between the North and the South .-' 



XXVI. CAPTAIN ROBERT GRAY 

(1755-1806) 

233, Captain Gray goes to the Pacific coast to buy furs ; 
he first carries the Stars and Stripes round the globe. — Not 
long after the war of the Revolution had come to an 
end some merchants of Boston sent out two vessels to 
Vancouver ^ Island, on the northwest coast of America. 
The names of the vessels were the Columbia and the 
Lady Washingtojt, and they sailed down the long coast 
of North and South America and then round Cape 
Horn into the Pacific. Captain Robert Gray went out 
as commander of one of these vessels.^ He was born 

1 Vancouver (Van-koo'ver) : part of it is seen north of Portland, Or., p. 211. 

2 He commanded the Lady Washington at first, and afterward the Columbia. 



2IO 



THE BEGINNER'S AMERICAN HISTORY 



in Rhode Island ^ and he had fought in one of our war- 
ships in the Revolution. 

Captain Gray was sent out by the Boston merchants 
to buy furs from the Indians on the Pacific coast. He 
had no difficulty in getting all he wanted, for the sav- 
ages were glad to sell them for very little. In one case 
a chief let the captain have two hundred sea-otter skins, 




Mount Hood 



such as are used for ladies' sacks, and which were worth 
about eight thousand dollars, for an old iron chisel. 
After getting a valuable cargo of furs. Captain Gray 
sailed in the Columbia for China, where he bought a 
quantity of tea. He then went down the coast of Asia 
and of Africa, and round the Cape of Good Hope into 
the Atlantic ; keeping on toward the west, he reached 
Boston in the summer of 1790. He had been gone 

1 Tiverton, Rhode Island. 



CAPTAIN ROBERT GRAY 



211 



about three years ; and he was the first man who carried 
the American flag clear round the globe. 

234. Captain Gray's second voyage to the Pacific coast ; he 
enters a great river and names it the Columbia ; the United 
States claims the Oregon Country ; we get Oregon in 1846. — - 
Captain Gray did not stay long at Boston, for he sailed 
again that autumn in the Columbia for the Pacific coast, 




Map showing the extent of the United States after we added the Oregon 
Country in 1846. 



to buy more furs. He stayed on that coast a long 
time. In the spring of 1792 he entered a great river 
and sailed up it a distance of nearly thirty miles. He 
seems to have been the first white man who had ever 
actually entered it. He named the vast stream the 
Columbia River, from the name of his vessel. It is the 
largest American river which empties into the Pacific 
Ocean south of Alaska.^ 

1 The Yukon River in Alaska is larger than the Columbia. 



212 



THE BEGINNER'S AMERICAN HISTORY 



Captain Gray returned to Boston and gave an 
account of his voyage of exploration ; this led Con- 
gress to claim the country through which the Columbia 

flows ^ as part of 
the United 
States. 

After Captain 
Gray had been 
dead forty years, 
we came into pos- 
session, in 1846, 
of the immense 
territory then 
called the Oregon 
Country. It was 
through what he 
had done that we 
got our first claim 
to that country 
which now forms 
the states of Ore- 
gon, Washington, 
and Idaho, and parts of Wyoming and Montana. 

235. Summary. — A little over a hundred years ago 
(1790) Captain Robert Gray of Rhode Island first car- 
ried the American flag round the world. In 1792 he 
entered and named the Columbia River. Because he 
did that the United States claimed the country — called 
the Oregon Country — through which that river runs, 

1 The discovery and exploration of a river usually give the right to a claim to 
the country watered by that river, on the part of the nation to which the dis- 
coverer or explorer belongs. 




Emigrants on their Way to Oregon 
Fifty Years ago 



CAPTAIN SUTTER 213 

In 1846 we added the Oregon Country to our posses- 
sions ; it now forms the three great states of Oregon, 
Washington, and Idaho. 

Tell about Captain Gray's voyage to the Pacific coast. What did 
he buy there ? What did he first carry round the globe ? Tell about 
his second voyage. What did he do in ijgz} What happened after 
Captain Gray returned to Boston? What happened in 1846? What 
states were made out of the Oregon Country,? 



XXVII. CAPTAIN SUTTER 1 

(1803-1880) 

236. Captain Sutter and his fort ; how the captain lived. — = 

At the time when Professor Morse sent his first mes- 
sage by telegrapli from Washington to Baltimore {1844),' 
Captain J. A. Sutter, an emigrant from Switzerland, was 
living near the Sacramento ^ River in California. Cali- 
fornia then belonged to Mexico. The governor of that 
part of the country had given Captain Sutter an 
immense piece of land ; and the captain had built a fort 
at a point where a stream which he named the Amer- 
ican River joins the Sacramento River.* People then 
called the place Sutter's Fort, but to-day it is Sacra- 
mento City, the capital of the great and rich state of 
California. 

In his fort Captain Sutter lived like a king. He 
owned land enough to make a thousand fair-sized farms ; 
he had twelve thousand head of cattle, more than ten 
thousand sheep, and over two thousand horses and 

1 Sutter (Sut'er). s Sacramento (Sac-ra-men'to). 

2 See page 203. * See map on page 214. 



214 



THE BEGINNER'S AMERICAN HISTORY 



mules. Hundreds of laborers worked for him in his 
wheatfields, and fifty well-armed soldiers guarded his 
fort. Quite a number of Americans had built houses 
near the fort. They thought that the time was coming 
when all that country would become part of the United 
States. 

237. Captain Sutter builds a saw-mill at Coloma^ ; a man 
finds some sparkling dust. — About forty miles up the 
American River was a place which the Mexicans called 

Coloma, or the beautiful val- 
ley. There was a good fall 
of water there and plenty of 
big trees to saw into boards, 
so Captain Sutter sent a man 
named Marshall to build a 
saw-mill at that place. The 
captain needed such a mill 
very much, for he wanted 
lumber to build with, and to 
fence his fields, 
Marshall set to work, and before the end of January, 
1848, he had built a dam across the river and had got 
the saw-mill half done. One day as he was walking 
along the bank of a ditch, which had been dug back of 
the mill to carry off the water, he saw some bright yel- 
low specks shining in the dirt. He gathered a little of 
the sparkling dust, washed it clean, and carried it to the 
house. That evening after the men had come in from 
their work on the mill, Marshall said to them, " Boys, I 
believe I 've found a gold mine." They laughed, and 
one of them said, " I reckon not ; no such luck." 




1 Coloma (Ko-lo'ma). 



CAPTAIN SUTTER 



215 



238. Marshall takes the shining dust to Captain Sutter ; 
what he did with it, and how he felt about the discovery. — 
A few days after that, Marshall went down to the fort to 
see Captain Sutter. Are you alone .-* he asked when he 
saw the captain. Yes, he answered. Well, won't you 
oblige me by locking the door ; I 've something I want 
to show you. The captain locked the door, and Mar- 
shall taking a little parcel out of his pocket opened it 
and poured some glittering 
dust on a paper he had 
spread out. "See here," 
said he, " I believe 
this is gold ; but the 
people at the mill 
laugh at me and call 
me crazy." 

Captain Sutter 
examined it carefully. 
He weighed it ; he 
pounded it flat ; he 
poured some strong 

acid on it. There are three very interesting things 
about gold. In the first place, it is very heavy, heavier 
even than lead. Next, it is very tough. If you hammer 
a piece of iron long enough, it will break to pieces ; 
but you can hammer a piece of gold until it is thinner 
than the thinnest tissue paper, so that, if you hold it up, 
you can see the light shining through it. Last of all, 
if you pour strong acids on gold — such acids as will 
eat into other metals and change their color — they will 
have no more effect on it than an acid like vinegar has 
on a piece of glass. 




Is IT Gold ? 



2l6 



THE BEGINNER'S AMERICAN HISTORY 



For these and other reasons most people think that 
gold is a very handsome metal ; and the more they see 
of it, especially if it is their own, the better they are 
pleased with it. 

Well, the shining dust stood all these tests.^ It was 
very heavy, it was very tough, and the sharp acid did 
not hurt it. Captain Sutter and Marshall both felt sure 
that it was ^o/cl. 

But, strange to say, the captain was not pleased. He 
wished to build up an American settlement and have 




Map showing the extent of the United States in 1 848, after Mexico let us have 
California and New Mexico. 



it called by his name. He did not care for a gold mine 
— why should he ? for he had everything he wanted 
without it. He was afraid, too, that if gold should be 
discovered in any quantity, thousands of people would 
rush in ; they would dig up his land, and quite likely 

1 Tests : here experiments or trials made to find out what a thing is. 



CAPTAIN SUTTER 



217 



take it all away from him. We shall see presently 
whether he was right or not. 

239. War with Mexico ; Mexico lets us have California and 
New Mexico ; " gold ! gold! gold ! " what happened at Coloma ; 
how California was settled ; what happened to Captain Sutter 
and to Marshall. — While these things were happening we 
had been at war with Mexico for two years (1846- 
1848), because Texas and 
Mexico could not agree 
about the western '^i 

boundary line ^ of 
the new state. 
Texas wanted to '< 
push that line as /--, 
far west as possible, 
so as to have more 
land; Mexico 
wanted to push it as far 
east as possible, so as 
to give as little land as 
she could. This dispute 
soon brought on a war 
between the United 
States and Mexico. 
Soon after gold was dis- 
covered at Coloma, the war ended (1848); and we got 
not only all the land the people of Texas had asked 
for, but an immense deal more ; for we obtained the 
great territory of California and New Mexico, out of 




Gold I from the American 
River! " 



1 Western boundary line : the people of Texas held that their state extended 
west as far as the Rio Grande River, but Mexico insisted that the boundary 
line was at the Nueces River, which is much further east. 



21 8 THE BEGINNER'S AMERICAN HISTORY 

which a number of states and territories have since 
been made.^ 

In May, 1848, a man came to San Francisco holding 
up a bottle full of gold-dust in one hand and swinging 
his hat with the other. As he walked through the 
streets he shouted with all his might, " Gold ! gold ! 
gold ! from the American River." 

Then the rush for Coloma began. Every man had a 
spade and a pick-axe. In a little while the beautiful 
valley was dug so full of holes that it looked like an 
empty honeycomb. The next year a hundred thousand 
people poured into California from all parts of the 
United States ; so the discovery of gold filled up that 
part of the country with emigrants years before they 
would have gone if no gold had been found there. 

Captain Sutter lost all his property. He would have 
died poor if the people of California had not given him 
money to live on. 

Marshall was still more to be pitied. He got nothing 
by his discovery. Years after he had found the shining 
dust, some one wrote to him and asked him for his pho- 
tograph. He refused to send it. He said, " My hke- 
ness ... is, in fact, all I have that I can call my own ; 
and I feel like any other poor wretch 2; I want some- 
thing for self." 

240. How we bought more land ; our growth since the Revo- 
lution. — Long before Captain Sutter died, the United 
States bought from Mexico another great piece of land 
(1853), marked on the map by the name of the Gadsden 

1 Namely: CaKfomia, Nevada, Utah, and part of Wyoming, Colorado, New 
Mexico, and Arizona. 

2 Wretch : here a very unhappy and miserable pprsnn. 



CAPTAIN SUTTER 



219 



Purchase.^ A number of years later (1867), we bought 
the territory of Alaska^ from Russia. 

The Revolution ended something over a hundred 
years ago. If you look on the map on page 168, and 
compare it with the maps which follow, you will see 
how we have grown during that time. Then we had 




This map shows the extent of the United States in 1 853 after we had added the 
land called the Gadsden Purchase, bought from Mexico; the land is marked 
on the map, 1853. 

only thirteen states.^ They stretched along the Atlantic, 
and, with the country west of them, extended as far as 
the Mississippi River. 

Next (1803) we bought the great territory of Louisiana 
(see map on page 169), which has since been divided 



1 See map, page 220. It was called the Gadsden Purchase because General 
James Gadsden (Gads'den) of South Carolina bought it from Mexico for the 
United States, in 1853. It included what is now part of Southern Arizona and 
New Mexico. 

2 Alaska (A-las'ka) ; see map, page 220. 
8 Thirteen states ; see note on page 84. 



220 



THE BEGINNER'S AMERICAN HISTORY 



into many states; then (1819) we bought Florida (see 
map on page 194); then (1845) we added Texas (see 
map on page 208); the next year (1846) we added 
Oregon territory, since cut up into three great states 




Scene on an Alaskan River 



(see map on page 211); then (1848) we obtained Cali- 
fornia and New Mexico (see map on page 216). Five 
years after that (1853) we bought the land then known 
as the Gadsden Purchase (see map on page 219) ; next 
(1867) we bought Alaska (see map on opposite page); 
then we annexed Hawaii ^ (1898), and now (1901) our 

1 Hawaii (Hah-wy'ee), the Hawaiian or Sandwich Islands. 



>f-' 



>^^V" 



•4- -^, 



/-^ 



AN ^ 






/TEXAS -a— ^ 



£.A^^" 



This map shows the territorial growth of the United 
States on the North American Continent from 
the time of the Revolution to the present, day. 
See too the Map of the World, page 244. 



i 



CAPTAIN SUTTER 221 

flag floats over a number of other islands in the Atlantic 
and the Pacific ^ (see map, page 244). 

241. " Brother Jonathan's " ^ seven steps. — If you count 
up the additions we have made on the North American 
Continent, you will see that, beginning with Louisiana 
in 1803 and ending with Alaska in 1867, they number 
seven in all. There is a story of a giant who was so tall 
that at one long step he could go more than twenty 
miles ; but " Brother Jonathan " can beat that, for in the 
seven steps he has taken since the Revolution he has gone 
over three thousand miles. He stands now with one 
foot on the coast of the Atlantic, with the other on that 
of the Pacific, and he holds many islands in his grasp 
besides. 

242. Summary. — In January, 1848, gold was discov- 
ered at Captain Sutter's saw-mill at Coloma, California. 
Soon after that, Mexico let us have California and New 
Mexico, and they were added to the United States. 
Thousands of people, from all parts of the country, hur- 
ried to California to dig gold ; and so that state grew 
more rapidly in population than any other new part of 
the United States ever had grown in the same length 
of time. Before Captain Sutter died we added the 
Gadsden Purchase and Alaska. 

1 That is, since our war with Spain, see pages 241, 252, and 253. 

2 " Brother Jonathan " : a name given, in fun, to the people of the United 
States, just as " John Bull " is to the people of England. 

One explanation of the origin of the name is this : General Washington had 
a very high opinion of the good sense and sound judgment of Governor Jonathan 
Trumbull of Connecticut. At the beginning of the Revolutionary War, when 
no one seemed to know where to get a supply of powder, General Washington 
said to his officers, " We must consult Brother Jonathan on this subject." 
Afterwards, when any serious difficulty arose, it became a common saying in the 
army that " We must consult Brother Jonathan," and in time the name came to 
stand for the American people. 



222 



THE BEGINNER'S AMERICAN HISTORY 



Who was Captain Sutter ? Where did he live ? Tell how he lived. 
What did he begin to build at Coloma? Tell what Marshall found 
there, and what was said about it. Tell how Marshall took the shining 
dust to Captain Sutter, and what the captain did. What made them 
both certain that the dust was gold ? Was the captain pleased with 
the discovery? What did he think would happen.^ What is said 
about our war with Mexico ? What did we fight about ? What did we 
get at the end of the war? What happened in May, 1848? Then 
what happened ? How many people went to California ? What hap- 
pened to Captain Sutter? What is said about Marshall? What land 
did we buy in 1853 ? What in 1867 ? 

How long ago did the Revolution end ? How many states did we 
have then? [Can any one in the class tell how many we have now?] 
What land did we buy in 1803? In 1819? What did we add in 1845 ? 
In 1846? In 1848? What did we buy in 1853? In 1867? What 
islands did we annex in 1898? What other islands did we come into 
possession of the same year ? How many additions have we made in 
all on the North American Continent? What could the giant do? 
What has " Brother Jonathan " done ? Where is one foot ? Where is 
the other ? 



XXVIII. ABRAHAM LINCOLN 

(1809-1865) 

243. The tall man from Illinois making his first speech in 
Congress ; how he wrote his name ; what the people called him. 
— Not many days before gold was found at Sutter's 
saw-miin in California (1848), a tall, awkward-looking 
man from Illinois was making his first speech in Con- 
gress. At th^ time he generally wrote his name 




but after he had become President of the United States, 
he often wrote it out in full, — 





1 See page 214. 



ABRAHAM LINCOLN 



223 



The plain country people of Illinois, who knew all about 
him, liked best to call him by the title they had first 
given him, — '^Honest Abe Lincoln,'' or, for short, 
" Honest Abe.'' Let us see how he got that name. 

244. The Lincoln family move to Indiana ; " Abe " helps 
his father build a new home ; what it was like. — Abraham 




Abraham Lincoln 

Lincoln was born on February 12, 1809, in a log shanty 
on a lonely little farm in Kentucky .1 When " Abe," as 
he was called, was seven years old, his father, Thomas 

1 Lincoln's old log cabin is now owned by the nation, and a fine granite 
Memorial Building covers and protects it (see page 279). 



224 THE BEGINNER'S AMERICAN HISTORY 

Lincoln, moved, with his family, to Indiana^ ; there the 
boy and his mother worked in the woods and helped 
him build a new home. That new home was not so 
good or so comfortable as some of our cow-sheds are. 
It was simply a hut made of rough logs and limbs of 
trees. It had no door and no windows. One side of it 
was left entirely open ; and if a roving Indian or a bear 
wanted to walk in to dinner, there was nothing whatever 
to stop him. In winter " Abe's " mother used to hang 
up some buffalo skins before this wide entrance to keep 
out the cold ; but in summer the skins were taken down, 
so that living in such a cabin was the next thing to 
living out-of-doors. 

245. The new log cabin with four sides to it ; how the fur- 
niture was made ; " Abe's " bed in the loft. — The Lincoln 
family stayed in that shed for about a year ; then they 
moved into a new log cabin which they had built, and 
which had four sides to it. They seem to have made 
a new set of furniture for the new house. " Abe's " 
father got a large log, split it in two, smoothed off the 
fiat side, bored holes in the under side, and drove in four 
stout sticks for legs ; that made the table. They had 
no chairs, — it would have been too much trouble to 
make the backs, — but they had three-legged stools, 
which Thomas Lincoln made with an axe just as he did 
the table; perhaps "Abe" helped him drive in the legs. 

In one corner of the loft of this cabin, the boy had a 
big bag of dry leaves for his bed. Whenever he felt 
like having a new bed, all that he had to do was to go 
out in the woods and gather more leaves. 

1 Indiana : the Lincoln family moved to a farm on Little Pigeon Creek, near 
Gentryville, in what is now Spencer County, Indiana. 



ABRAHAM LINCOLN 225 

He worked about the place during the day, helping 
his father and mother. For his supper he had a piece 
of cornbread. After he had eaten it, he climbed up to 
his loft in the dark, by a kind of ladder of wooden pins 
driven into the logs. Five minutes after that, he was 
fast asleep on his bed of sweet-smelling leaves, and was 
dreaming of hunting coons, or of building big bonfires 
out of brush.^ 

246. Death of "Abe's" mother; the lonely grave in the 
woods ; what Abraham Lincoln said of his mother after he had 
grown to be a man ; what *' Abe's " new mother said of him. — 
"Abe's" mother was not strong; and, before they had 
been in their new log cabin a year, she fell sick and 
died. She was buried on the farm. " Abe " used to go 
out and sit by her lonely grave in the forest and cry. 
It was the first great sorrow that had ever touched the 
boy's heart. After he had grown to be a man, he said, 
with eyes full of tears, to a friend with whom he was 
talking : " God bless my mother ; all that I am or ever 
hope to be I owe to her." 

At the end of a year Thomas Lincoln married again. 
The new wife that he brought home was a kind-hearted 
and excellent woman. She did all she could to make 
the poor, ragged, barefooted boy happy. After he had 
grown up and become famous, she said : " Abe never 
gave me a cross word or look, and never refused to do 
anything I asked him ; Abe was the best boy I ever 
saw." 

247. The school in the woods ; the new teacher ; reading by 
the open fire ; how " Abe " used the fire-shovel. — There was 
a log schoolhouse in the woods quite a distance off, and 

1 Brush : bushes and limbs of trees. 



226 



THE BEGINNER'S AMERICAN HISTORY 



there " Abe " went for a short time. At the school he 
learned to read and write a little, but after a while he 
found a new teacher, that was — himself. When the 
rest of the family had gone to bed, he would sit up and 
read his favorite books by the light of the great blazing 

logs heaped up on the 
open fire. He had not 
^llilill more than half a dozen 

lililllli books in all. They were 
I'ii' ill "Robinson Crusoe," 

,ii^ "Pilgrim's Progress," 

'!'''"■'■; 'Nf ", ^sop'si Fables, the 
>-.'« z"-^' . " W Bible, a Life of Wash- 
\s ^^n-r -fiif -immim ington, and a small His- 

tory of the United 
IliiilK States. The boy read 

these books over and 

"f '^ over till he knew a great 

-^> CT \r ■ I \ '"' ^^"^ °^ them by heart 
V'- /4' '■ '^^^ ^^cl could repeat whole 
V'-V'fe. pae:es from them. 

. ,, ^ ^ Part of his evenings 

" Abe AND THE Fire-Shovel . 

he spent m writmg and 

ciphering. Thomas Lincoln was so poor that he could 




1 jEsop (E'sop) : the name of a noted writer of fables. Here is one of ^sop's 
fables: An old frog thought that he could blow himself up to be as big as an ox. 
So he drew in his breath and puffed himself out prodigiously. "Am I big 
enough now? " he asked his son. " No," said his son ; " you don't begin to be 
as big as an ox yet." Then he tried again, and swelled himself out still more. 
"How's that?" he asked. "Oh, it's no use trying," said his son, "you can't 
do it." " But I will," said the old frog. With that he drew in his breath with 
all his might and puffed himself up to such an enormous size that he suddenly 
burst. 

Moral : Don't try to be bigger than you can be. 



ABRAHAM LINCOLN 22/ 

seldom afford to buy paper and pens for his son, so the 
boy had to get on without them. He used to take the back 
of the broad wooden fire-shovel to write on and a piece of 
charcoal for a pencil. When he had covered the shovel 
with words or with sums in arithmetic, he would shave 
it off clean and begin over again. If "Abe's" father 
complained that the shovel was getting thin, the boy 
would go out into the woods, cut down a tree, and make 
a new one ; for as long as the woods lasted, fire-shovels 
and furniture were cheap. 

248. What Lincoln could do at seventeen ; what he was at 
nineteen ; his strength. — By the time the lad was seven- 
teen he could write a good hand, do hard examples in 
long division, and spell better than any one else in the 
county. Once in a while he wrote a little piece of his 
own about something which interested him ; when he 
read it to the neighbors, they would say, "The world 
can't beat it." 

At nineteen Abraham Lincoln had reached his full 
height. He stood nearly six feet four inches, bare- 
footed. He was a kind of good-natured giant. No one 
in the neighborhood could strike an axe as deep into a 
tree as he could, and few, if any, were equal to him in 
strength. It takes a powerful man to put a barrel of flour 
into a wagon without help, and there is not one in a 
hundred who can lift a barrel of cider off the ground ; 
but it is said that young Lincoln could stoop down, lift a 
barrel on to his knees, and drink from the bung-hole. 

249. Young Lincoln makes a voyage to New Orleans ; how 
he handled the robbers. — At this time a neighbor hired 
Abraham Lincoln to go with his son to New Orleans. 
The two young men were to take a flatboat, loaded with 



228 THE BEGINNER'S AMERICAN HISTORY 

com and other produce, down the Ohio and the Missis- 
sippi. It was called a voyage of about eighteen hundred 
miles, and it would take between three and four weeks. 

Young Lincoln was greatly pleased with the thought 
of making such a trip. He had never been away any 
distance from home, and, as he told his father, he felt 
that he wanted to see something more of the world. 
His father made no objection, but as he bade his son 
good by he said. Take care that in trying to see the 
world you don't see the bottom of the Mississippi. 

The two young men managed to get the boat through 
safely. But one night a gang of negroes came on board, 
intending to rob them of part of their cargo. Lincoln 
soon showed the robbers he could handle a club as 
vigorously as he could an axe ; and the rascals, bruised 
and bleeding, were glad to get off with their lives. 

250. The Lincolns move to Illinois ; what Abraham did ; 
hunting frolics ; how Abraham chopped ; how he bought his 
clothes. — Not long after young Lincoln's return, his 
father moved to IlHnois.^ It was a two weeks' journey 
through the woods with ox-teams. Abraham helped his 
father build a comfortable log cabin ; then he and a man 
named John Hanks split walnut rails and fenced in fif- 
teen acres of land for a cornfield. 

That part of the country had but few settlers, and it 
was still full of wild beasts. When the men got tired 
of work and wanted a frolic, they had a grand wolf -hunt. 
First, a tall pole was set up in a clearing ^ ; next, the 



1 Illinois : he moved to a farm on the North Fork (or branch) of the San- 
gamon River (San'ga-mon), Macon County, Illinois. Springfield, the capital of 
the state, is in the next county west. 

2 Clearing : an open space made in a forest. 



ABRAHAM LINCOLN 



229 



hunters in the woods formed a great circle of perhaps ten 
miles in extent. Then they began to move nearer and 
nearer together, beating the bushes and yelling with all 
their might. The frightened deer and other wild creatures 
inside of the circle of hunters were driven to the pole in 
the clearing ; there they were shot down in heaps. 

Young Lincoln was not much of a hunter, but he 
always tried to do his part. Yet, after all, he liked the 
axe better than he did the rifle. .? 
He would start off 
before light in 
morning and walk to 
his work in the woods, 
five or six miles away. 
There he would 
chop steadily all ^ 
day. The neigh- 
bors knew when 
they hired him 
that he would n't 
sit down on the 
first log he came 
to and fall asleep. 
Once when he 
needed a new pair of trousers, he made a bargain for 
them with a Mrs. Nancy Miller. She agreed to make 
him a certain number of yards of tow cloth,^ and dye it 
brown with walnut bark. For every yard she made, 
Lincoln bound himself to split four hundred good fence- 
rails for her. In this way he made his axe pay for all 
his clothes. 







The Log Cabin in Illinois which Lincoln 
HELPED his Father build 



1 Tow cloth : a kind of coarse, cheap, but very strong cloth, made of flax or hemp. 



230 THE BEGINNER'S AMERICAN HISTORY 

251. Lincoln hires out to tend store ; the gang of ruffians in 
New Salem; Jack Armstrong and "Tall Abe." — The year 
after young Lincoln came of age he hired out to tend a 
grocery and variety store in New Salem, Illinois.^ There 
was a gang of young ruffians in that neighborhood who 
made it a point to pick a fight with every stranger. Some- 
times they mauled him black and blue ; sometimes they 
amused themselves with nailing him up in a hogshead and 
rolling him down a hill. The leader of this gang was a 
fellow named Jack Armstrong. He made up his mind 
that he would try his hand on "Tall Abe," as Lincoln 
was called. He attacked Lincoln, and he was so astonished 
at what happened to him that he never wanted to try it 
again. From that time Abraham Lincoln had no better 
friends than young Armstrong and the Armstrong family. 
Later on, we shall see what he was able to do for them. 

252. Lincoln's faithfulness in little things ; the six cents ; 
"Honest Abe." — In his work in the store Lincoln soon 
won everybody's respect and confidence. He was faith- 
ful in little things, and in that way he made himself able 
to deal with great ones. 

Once a woman made a mistake in paying for some- 
thing she had bought, and gave the young man six cents 
too much. He did not notice it at the time, but, after 
his customer had gone, he saw that she had overpaid 
him. That night after the store was closed, Lincoln 
walked to the woman's house, some five or six miles out 
of the village, and paid her back the six cents. It was 
such things as this that first made the people give him 
the name of "Honest Abe." 

1 New Salem is on the Sangamon River, in Menard County, about twenty 
miles northwest of Springfield, the capital of Illinois. 



ABRAHAM LINCOLN 23 I 

253. The Black Hawk War ; the Indian's handful of dry 
leaves ; what Lincoln did in the war. — The next year Lin- 
coln went to fight the Indians in what was called the 
Black Hawk War. The people in that part of the 
country had been expecting the war ; for, some time 
before, an Indian had walked up to a settler's cabin and 
said, " Too much white man." He then threw a hand- 
ful of dry leaves into the air, to show how he and his 
warriors were coming to scatter the white men. He 
never came, but a noted chief named Black Hawk, who 
had been a friend of Tecumseh's,^ made an attempt to 
drive out the settlers and get back the lands which 
certain Indians had sold them. 

Lincoln said that the only battles he fought in this 
war were with the mosquitoes. He did not kill a single 
Indian, but he saved the life of one old savage. He 
seems to have felt just as well satisfied with himself for 
doing that as though he had shot him through the head. 

254. Lincoln becomes postmaster and surveyor ; how he 
studied law ; what the people thought of him as a lawyer. 
— After Lincoln returned from the war he was made 
postmaster of New Salem. He also found time to do 
some surveying and to begin the study of law. On hot 
summer mornings he might be seen lying on his back, on 
the grass, under a big tree, reading a law-book ; as the 
shade moved round, Lincoln would move with it, so that, 
by sundown, he had travelled nearly round the tree. 

When he began to practise law, everybody who knew 
him had confidence in him. Other men might be admired 
because they v/ere smart, but Lincoln was respected 
because he was honest. When he said a thing, people 

1 Tecumseh ; see page 180. 



232 THE BEGINNER'S AMERICAN HISTORY 

knew that it was because he believed it ; and they knew, 
too, that he could not be hired to say what he did not 
believe. That gave him immense influence. 

255. The Armstrong murder trial ; how Lincoln saved young 
Armstrong from being hanged. — But Lincoln was as keen 
as he was truthful and honest — or perhaps, it would be 
better to say he was keen because he was truthful and 
honest. A man was killed in a fight near where Lincoln 
had lived, and one of Jack Armstrong's ^ brothers was 
arrested for the murder. Everybody thought that he 
was guilty, and felt sure that he would be hanged. 
Lincoln made some inquiry about the case, and made 
up his mind that the prisoner did not kill the man. 

Mrs. Armstrong was too poor to hire a lawyer to defend 
her son ; but Lincoln wrote to her that he would gladly 
defend him for nothing. 

When the day of the trial came, the chief witness was 
sure that he saw young Armstrong strike the man dead. 
Lincoln questioned him closely. He asked him when 
it was that he saw the murder committed. The wit- 
ness said that it was in the evening, at a certain hour, 
and that he saw it all clearly because there was a bright 
moon. Are you sure ? asked Lincoln. Yes, replied the 
witness. Do you swear to it ? I do, answered the wit- 
ness. Then Lincoln took an almanac out of his pocket, 
turned to the day of the month on which the murder had 
been committed, and said to the court : The almanac 
shows that there was no moon shining at the time at 
which the witness says he saw the murder. ^ The jury 

1 See Jack Armstrong, on page 230. 

2 The almanac usually gives the time when the moon rises ; and so by looking 
at any particular day of the month, one can tell whether there was a moon on 
that evening. 



ABRAHAM LINCOLN 



233 



was convinced that the witness had not spoken the truth ; 
they declared the prisoner "Not guilty," and he was at 
once set free. 

Lincoln was a man who always paid his debts. Mrs. 
Armstrong had been very kind to him when he was poor 
and friendless. Now he had paid that debt. 

256. Lincoln and the pig. — Some men have hearts big 
enough to be kind to their fellow-men when they are in 
trouble, but not to a dumb ani- 
mal. Lincoln's heart was 
enough for both. 

One morning just after /~'^' 
he had bought a new suit "'^ '^'' 
of clothes he started 
drive to the court- 
house, a number of 
miles distant. On the 
way, he saw a pig that 
was making desperate 
efforts to climb out of 
a deep mud-hole. The 
creature would get 
part way up the slip- 
pery bank, and then slide back again over his head in mire 
and water. Lincoln said to himself : I suppose that I ought 
to get out and help that pig ; for if he 's left there, he '11 
smother in the mud. Then he gave a look at his glossy 
new clothes. He felt that he really couldn't afford to spoil 
them for the sake of any pig, so he whipped up his horse 
and drove on. But the pig was in his mind, and he could 
think of nothing else. After he had gone about two 
miles, he said to himself, I 've no right to leave that poor 




Lincoln and the Pig 



234 THE BEGINNER'S AMERICAN HISTORY 

creature there to die in the mud, and what is more, I 
won't leave him. Turning his horse, he drove back to 
the spot. He got out and carried half a dozen fence-rails 
to the edge of the hole, and placed them so that he could 
get to it without falling in himself. Then, kneeling down, 
he bent over, seized the pig firmly by the fore legs and 
drew him up on to the solid ground, where he was safe. 
The pig grunted out his best thanks, and Lincoln, plas- 
tered with mud, but with a light heart, drove on to the 
court-house. 

257. Lincoln is elected to the state legislature ; he goes 
to Springfield to live ; he is elected to Congress. — Many 
people in Illinois thought that they would like to see 
such a man in the state legislature,^ helping to make 
their laws. They knew they could trust him. They 
elected him ; and as he was too poor at that time to 
pay so much horse-hire, he walked from New Salem, a 
distance of over a hundred miles, to Vandalia,^ which 
was then the capital of the state. 

Lincoln was elected to the legislature four times ; later, 
he moved to Springfield, Illinois, and made that place his 
home for the rest of his life. 

The next time the people elected him to office, they 
sent him to Washington to help make laws in Congress, 
not for his state only, but for the whole country. He 
had got a long way up since the time when he worked 
with John Hanks ^ fencing the cornfield round his father's 
cabin ; but he was going higher still, — he was going to 
the top. 



1 Legislature : persons chosen by the people of a state or country to make 
its laws. 2 Vandalia (Van-da'li-a) 

8 John Hanks; see page 228. 



ABRAHAM LINCOLN 235 

258. The meeting for choosing a candidate ^ for President of 
the United States ; the two fence-rails ; the Chicago meeting ; 
Abraham Lincoln elected President of the United States. — In 
the spring of i860 a great convention, or meeting, was 
held in one of the towns of Illinois. Lincoln was pres- 
ent at that convention. The object of the people who 
had gathered there was to choose a candidate that they 
would like to see elected President of the United States. 
A number of speeches had been made, when a member 
of the convention rose and said that a person asked the 
privilege of making the meeting a present. It was voted 
to receive it. Then John Hanks and one of his neighbors 
brousfht in two old fence-rails and a banner with these 
words painted on it : — 







ABRAHAM 


LINCOLN, 




THE 


RAIL 


CANDIDATE 
IN 


FOR 

1860. 


THE 


PRESIDENCY 




TWO 


RAILS FROM A 


LOT 


OF 3000 






MADE 


IN 1830 






BY JOHN HANKS 


AND 


ABE 


LINCOLN. 



The rails were received with cheer after cheer ; and 
Lincoln was chosen candidate. About a week after that 
a much greater meeting was held in Chicago, and he was 
chosen there in the same way. The next November 
Abraham Lincoln, "the Illinois rail-splitter," was elected 



1 Candidate (can'di-date) : a person who seeks some office, such as that of gov- 
ernor or president, or a person who is recommended by a party for such an office. 
The people in favor of the candidate vote for him ; and if he gets a sufficient num- 
ber of votes, he is elected. 



236 THE BEGINNER'S AMERICAN HISTORY 

President of the United States. He had reached the 
top. There he was to die. 

259. The great war between the North and the South ; why 
a large part of the people of the South wished to leave the Union. 

— In less than six weeks after Lincoln actually became 
President, in the spring of 1861, a terrible war broke out 
between the North and the South. The people of South 
Carolina fired the first gun in that war. They, together 
with a great part of the people of ten other southern 
states, resolved to leave the Union.^ They set up an 
independent government, called the Confederate States 
of America, and made Jefferson Davis its president. 

The main reason why so many of the people of the 
South wished to withdraw from the United States was 
that, little by little, the North and the South had become 
like two different countries. 

At the time of the Revolution, when we broke away 
from the rule of England, every one of the states held 
negro slaves ; but in the course of eighty years a great 
change had taken place. The negroes at the North had 
become free, but those of the South still remained slaves. 
In the course of time, all labor at the North had come 
to be done by free white men, while nearly all the hard 
work at the South was done by black men who were not 
free. This difference in the way of doing work made it 
impossible for the North and the South to agree about 
many things. 

1 Union : several years after the close of the Revolutionary War, by which 
we gained our independence of Great Britain, the people of the thirteen states 
formed a new government. That new government bound all the states together 
more strongly than before, thus making, as was then said, "a more ferfect 
union!'' 

In 1861 eleven of the southern states endeavored to withdraw from the Union; 
this attempt brought on the war. 



ABRAHAM LINCOLN 237 

They had come to be like two boys in a boat who 
want to go in opposite directions. One pulls one way 
with his oars, the other pulls another way, and so the 
boat does not get ahead. 

At the South most of the people thought that slavery 
was right and that it helped the whole country; at the 
North the greater part of the people were convinced 
that it was wrong, and that it did harm to the whole 
country. 

But this was not all. The people who held slaves at 
the South wanted to add to the number. They hoped 
to get more of the new country west of the Mississippi 
River for slave states, so that there might always be at 
least as many slave states in the Union as there were 
free states. But Abraham Lincoln, like most of the 
people at the North, believed that slavery did no good 
to any one. He and his party were fully determined 
that no slaves whatever should be taken into the terri- 
tories west of the Mississippi River, and that every new 
state which should be added should be entirely free. 

For this reason it happened, that when Lincoln became 
President, most of the slave states resolved to leave the 
Union, and, if necessary, to make war rather than be 
compelled to stay in it. 

260. The North and the South in the war ; President Lincoln 
frees the slaves ; General Grant and General Lee ; peace is made. 
— The North had the most fighting men and the most 
money ; but the people of the South had the advantage 
of being able to sta)'' at home and fight on their own 
ground. 

The war lasted four years (1861-1865). Many ter- 
rible battles were fought, and thousands of brave men 



238 THE BEGINNER'S AMERICAN HISTORY 

were killed on both sides. During the war President 
Lincoln gave the slaves their freedom in all the states 
which were fighting against the Union, and those in the 
other slave states got their freedom later. After a time, 
the command of all the armies of the North was given 
to General Grant, and General Lee became the chief 
defender of the South. 

The last battles between these two great generals were 
fought around Richmond, Virginia. When the Southern 
soldiers saw that it was useless to attempt to fight longer, 
they laid down their arms, and peace was made — a peace 
honorable to both sides. 

261. The success of the North preserves the Union and makes 
all slaves free ; the North and the South shake hands ; murder 
of President Lincoln. — The success of the North in the 
war preserved the Union ; and, as all negro laborers were 
now free, there was no longer any dispute about slavery. 
The North and the South could shake hands and be 
friends, for both were now ready to pull in the same 
direction. 

The saddest thing at the close of the war was the mur- 
der of President Lincoln by a madman named Booth. 
Not only the people of the North, but many of those at 
the South, shed tears at his death, because they felt that 
they had an equal place in his great heart. He loved 
both, as a true American must ever love his whole 
country. 

262. Summary. — Abraham Lincoln, of Illinois, became 
President of the United States in 186 1. He was elected 
by a party in the North that was determined that slaves 
should not be taken into free states or territories, and 
that no more slave states should be made. On this 



ABRAHAM LINCOLN 239 

account most of the slave-holding states of the South 
resolved to withdraw from the Union. A great war fol- 
lowed, and President Lincoln gave the slaves their free- 
dom. The North succeeded in the war, and the Union 
was made stronger than ever ; because the North and 
the South could no longer have any dispute over slavery. 
Both sides now shook hands and became friends. 

Who was the tall man in Congress from Illinois ? What did the 
people of his state like to call him ? When was Abraham Lincoln born .'' 
Where was he born.'' To what state did his father move.'' Tell about 
"Abe's" new home. Tell about the new cabin and its furniture. Tell 
about " Abe's " bed. What is said about the boy's mother .'' What did 
"Abe "do.'' What did he -say after he became a man.'' What did 
Thomas Lincoln's new wife say about "Abe".'' Tell about "Abe's" 
going to school ; about his new teacher ; about his books. What did 
he use to write on .'' What is said of Abraham Lincoln at seventeen ? 
What about him when he was nineteen .'' Tell about his voyage to 
New Orleans. 

Tell about his moving to Illinois. What did Abraham Lincoln and 
John Hanks do.' Tell about the hunting frolics. Tell how Lincoln 
chopped in the woods. What kind of a bargain did he make for a new 
pair of trousers .' What did Abraham Lincoln hire out to do in New 
Salem ? Tell about the gang of ruffians. What is said of Jack Arm- 
strong? Why did Lincoln get the name of " Honest Abe " .'' Tell about 
the Black Hawk War. What did Lincoln do in that war? 

After he returned from the Black Hawk War, what did Lincoln do? 
Tell how he used to read law. What did people think of him after he 
began to practise law? Tell about the Armstrong murder trial. Tell 
about Lincoln and the pig. To what did the people of Illinois elect 
Lincoln? Did they ever elect him to the state legislature again ? Then 
where did they send him ? Was he going any higher? 

Tell about the great meeting in one of the towns of Illinois in i860. 
Can any one in the class repeat what was on the banner? What 
happened at Chicago ? What happened the next November ? What 
happened in the spring of 1861 ? Who fired the first gun in the war? 
What was done then ? 

Tell why so many people in the South wished to leave the Union ? 
What is said about negro slaves at the time of the Revolution ? What 
happened in the course of eighty years ? What had the North and the 
South come to be like ? How did most of the people at the South feel 
about slavery? How did most of the people at the North feel about it? 
What did the people who held slaves at the South want to do? What 
did most of the people at the North think about this ? What is said 
about Abraham Lincoln and his party ? How did most of the people 
of the slave states feel when Lincoln became President ? 



240 THE BEGINNER'S AMERICAN HISTORY 

What is said about the North and the South in the war? How long 
did the war last ? What is said about it ? What did President Lincoln 
do for the slaves ? After a time what general got the command of all the 
armies of the North ? Who became the chief defender of the South ? 
Where were the last battles fought ? What did the South do at last ? 
What happened then ? What did the success of the North do ? What 
is said about slavery ? What could the North and the South do ? 
What was the saddest thing which happened at the close of the war? 
How did the North and the South feel about President Lincoln? 



XXIX. SINCE THE CIVIL WAR — THE 
GREAT WAR 

263. How the North and the South have grown since the 
war ; the great West. — Since the war the united North 
and South have grown and prospered ^ as never before. 
At the South many new and flourishing towns and cities 
have sprung up. Mines of coal and iron have been opened, 
hundreds of cotton-mills and factories have been built, 
and long lines of railroads have been constructed. 

At the West even greater changes have taken place. 
Cities have risen up in the wilderness, mines of silver and 
gold have been opened, and immense farms and cattle 
ranches ^ produce food enough to feed all America. Many 
great lines of railroads have been built which connect with 
railroads at the East, and stretch across the continent 
from the Atlantic to the Pacific. Into that vast country 
beyond the Mississippi, hundreds of thousands of indus- 
trious people are moving from all parts of the earth, and 
are building homes for themselves and for their children. 

264. Celebration of the discovery of America by Columbus. 
— More than four hundred years have gone by since 
the first civilized man crossed the ocean and found this 

1 Prospered : to prosper is to succeed, to get on in life, to grow rich. 

2 Ranches (ran'cliez) : farms at the West for raising horses and cattle, or sheep. 



SINCE THE CIVIL WAR 



241 



new world which we call America. In 1893 we cele- 
brated that discovery made by Columbus, not only in 
the schools throughout the country, but by a great fair 
— called the "World's Columbian Exposition" — held 
at Chicago. There, on 
the low shores of Lake 
Michigan, on what 
was once a swamp, 
the people of the 
West had built a 
great city. They 
had built it, too, 
where a United 
States govern- 
ment engineer 
had said that it 
was simply impos- 
sible to do such a 
thing, and in 1893 
Chicago had more 
than a million of 
inhabitants. Mul- 
titudes of people 

from every state in the Union visited the exposition, and 
many came from all parts of the globe to see it. 

265. Our Hundred Days' War with Spain.2 — A little less 
than five years after the opening of the Columbian 

1 The last spikes (one of gold from California, one of silver from Nevada, and 
one made of gold, silver, and iron from Arizona) were driven just as the clock 
struck twelve (noon) on May loth, 1869, at Promontory Point, near Salt Lake, 
Utah. Every blow of the hammer was telegraphed throughout the United States. 

2 In all, the war lasted from April 21, 1898, to August 12, 1898, but Congress 
did not formally declare war until April 25. The fighting covered one hundred 
ind seven days — namely from May i to August 15. 




The Meeting of the Engines 

FROM THE East and the West after the Last 

Spike was driven ^ on the Completion of 

THE First Railroad to the Pacific in 1869 



242 



THE BEGINNER'S AMERICAN HISTORY 



Exposition we declared war against Spain. It was the 
first time we had crossed swords with any nation of 
Europe since General Jackson won the famous battle of 
New Orleans^ in the War of 1812 with Great Britain. 

When Major McKinley became President (1897) we 
had no expectation of fighting Spain. The contest came 
suddenly, and Cuba was the cause of it. Spain once 




How THEY USED TO SHOOT BUFFALO IN THE FaR WeST 



owned not only all the large islands in the West Indies, 
which Columbus had discovered,^ but held Mexico and 
Florida, and the greater part of that vast country west 
of the Mississippi, which has now belonged to the United 
States for many years. Piece by piece Spain lost the 
whole of these enormous possessions, until at last she 
had nothing left but the two islands of Cuba and Porto 
Rico. 



1 See page 193. 



2 See page 10. 



SINCE THE CIVIL WAR 



243 



266. The rebellion, in Cuba. — Many of the Cubans hated 
Spanish rule, and with good reason. They made several 
attempts to rid themselves of it and fought for ten years 
( 1 868-1 878), but without success. Finally, in the spring 
of 1895, they took up arms again, and with the battle 
cry of "Independence or death!" they set to work in 
grim earnest to drive 
out the Spaniards. 
Spain was deter- 
mined to crush 
the rebellion. 
She sent over 
thousands of 
soldiers to 
accomplish it. 
The desperate 
fight continued 
to go on year 
after year, until 
it looked as 
though the 
whole island — 
which Colum- 
bus said was 
the most beautiful he had ever seen — would be con- 
verted into a wilderness covered with graves and ruins. 
In the course of the war great numbers of peaceful 
Cuban farmers were driven from their homes and 
starved to death ; and many Americans who had 
bought sugar and tobacco plantations saw all their 
property, worth from $30,000,000 to $50,000,000, 
utterly destroyed. 




Indians attacking a Stage-Coach in the Far 
West Many Years ago, before the First 
Pacific Railroad was built 



244 THE BEGINNER'S AMERICAN HISTORY 

267. The destruction of the Maine. — Cuba is about the 
size of the State of Pennsylvania. It is our nearest 
island neighbor on the south, and is almost in sight from 
Key West, Florida. The people of the United States 
could not look on the war of devastation unmoved. 
While we were sending ship-loads of food to feed the 
starving Cubans, it was both natural and right that we 
should earnestly hope that the terrible struggle might 
be speedily brought to an end. 

Our Government first urged and then demanded that 
Spain should try to make peace in the island. Spain did 
try, tried honestly so far as we can see, but failed. The 
Cuban Revolutionists had no faith in Spanish promises ; 
they positively refused to accept anything short of sepa- 
ration and independence. Spain was poor and proud; 
she replied that come what might she would not give 
up Cuba. 

While we were waiting to see what should be done a 
terrible event happened. We had sent Captain Sigsbee ^ 
in command of the battle-ship Maine to visit Havana. 
In the night (February 15, 1898), while the Maine was 
lying in that port, she was blown up. Out of three hun- 
dred and fifty-three officers and men on board the vessel, 
two hundred and sixty-six were instantly killed, or were 
so badly hurt that they died soon after. We appointed a 
Court of Inquiry, composed of naval officers, to examine 
the wreck. After a long and careful investigation of all 
the facts, they reported that the Maine had been blown 
up by a mine ^ planted in the harbor or placed under her 

1 Sigsbee (Sigs'bee). 

2 Mine : here this word means a quantity of powder or some other explosive 
substance placed under v/ater for the purpose of blowing up a vessel. See account 
of Fulton's torpedo on page 174. 



1 



SINCE THE CIVIL WAR 245 

hull. Whether the mine was exploded by accident or 
by design, or who did the fatal work, was more than the 
Court could say. 

268. Declaration of war and the blockade of Cuba. — Presi- 
dent McKinley sent a special message to Congress in 
which he said, "The war in Cuba must stop." Soon 
afterward Congress resolved that the people of Cuba 
"are, and of right ought to be, free and independent." ^ 
They also resolved that if Spain did not proceed at 
once to withdraw her soldiers from the island, we would 
take measures to make her do it. Spain refused to 
withdraw her army, and war was forthwith declared by 
both nations. 

The President then sent Captain Sampson ^ with a 
fleet of war-ships to blockade Havana and other Cuban 
ports, so that the Spaniards should not get help from 
Spain to carry on the contest. He next put Commo- 
dore Schley^ in command of a "flying squadron" of 
fast war-vessels, so that he might stand ready to act 
when called upon. 

269. Dewey's victory at Manila. — In the Pacific Spain 
owned the group of islands called the Philippines.* 

"Many of the people of those islands had long been dis- 
contented with their government, and when the Cubans 
rose in revolt against Spain it stirred the inhabitants of 
the Philippines to begin a struggle for liberty. They, 
too, were fighting for independence. 

1 See page 253 on the vote of the Cuban people in 1901 accepting the guar- 
dianship and protection of the United States. 

2 Captain William T. Sampson, who was then " Acting Rear-Admiral," has 
since been promoted to the full rank of Rear-Admiral, and so, too, has 
Commodore Winfield Scott Schley. 3 Schley (Shll). 

* Philippine Islands, or the Philippines (Fil'ip-peens) ; see the Map of the 
World, page 244. 



246 



THE BEGINNER'S AMERICAN HISTORY 



President McKinley resolved to strike two blows at 
once, and while we hit Spain in Cuba, to hit her at the 
same time at Manila/ the capital of the Philippines. It 




Battle of Manila 



happened, fortunately for us, that Commodore Dewey '^ 
had a fleet of six war-ships at Hong Kong, China. 

1 Manila (Man-il'ah). 2 Commodore George Dewey — now Admiral Dewey. 



SINCE THE CIVIL WAR 247 

The President telegraphed to him to start at once for 
Manila and to " capture or destroy " the Spanish fleet 
which guarded that important port. The Spaniards 
at that place were brave men who were determined to 
hold Manila against all attack ; they had forts to help 
them ; they had twice as many vessels as Commodore 
Dewey had ; on the other hand, our vessels were larger 
and better armed ; best of all, our men could fire 
straight, which was more than the Spaniards knew how 
CO do. 

Commodore Dewey carried out his orders to the 
letter. On the first day of May (1898) he sent a 
despatch to the President, saying that he had just 
fought a battle and had knocked every Spanish war-ship 
to pieces without losing a single man in the fight. The 
victorious Americans took good care of the wounded 
Spaniards. 

The President at once sent General Merritt from San 
Francisco with a large number of soldiers to join Com- 
modore Dewey. Congress voted the " Hero of Manila " 
a sword of honor, and the President, with the consent 
of the Senate of the United States, made him Rear- 
Admiral, and later Admiral, thus giving him the highest 
rank to which he could be promoted in the navy. 

270. Cervera " bottled up " ; Hobson's brave deed. — Spain 
had lost one fleet, but she still had another and a far 
more powerful one under the command of Admiral 
Cervera.i Where Cervera was we did not know — for 
anything we could tell he might be coming across the 
Atlantic to suddenly attack New York or Boston or 
some other of our cities on the Atlantic coast. The 

1 Cervera : English pronunciation Sur-vee'rah. 



248 THE BEGINNER'S AMERICAN HISTORY 

President sent Commodore Schley with his "flying 
squadron" to find the Spanish fleet. After a long 
search the Commodore discovered that the Spanish 
war-ships had secretly run into the harbor of Santiago ^ 
on the southeastern coast of Cuba. 

A day or two afterward Captain Sampson with a 
number of war-vessels went to Santiago and took com- 
mand of our combined fleet in front of that port. One 
of Captain Sampson's vessels was the famous battle-ship 
Oregon, which had come from. San Francisco round 
South America, a voyage of about thirteen thousand 
miles, in order to take a hand in the coming fight. 

The entrance to the harbor of Santiago is by a long, 
narrow, crooked channel guarded by forts. We could 
not enter it without great risk of losing our ships. It 
was plain enough that we had " bottled up " Cervera's 
fleet, and so long as Cervera remained there he could 
do us no harm. But there was a chance, in spite of 
our watching the entrance to the harbor as a cat 
watches a mouse-hole, that the Spanish commander 
might, after all, slip out of his hiding-place and under 
cover of darkness or fog escape our guns. 

Captain Sampson believed that he saw a way by 
which he could effectually cork the bottle and make 
Cervera's escape impossible. By permission of Captain 
Sampson, Lieutenant ^ Hobson proceeded to carry out 
his daring scheme. With the help of seven sailors, 
who were eager to go with him at the risk of almost 
certain death, Hobson ran the coal ship Merrimac into 
the narrow channel, and by exploding torpedoes sank 

1 Santiago (San-te-ah'go). 

2 Lieutenant (Loo-ten'ant), an oflScer in the navy below the rank of captain. 






SINCE THE CIVIL WAR 249 

the vessel part way across it. Then he and his men 
jumped into the water to save themselves as best they 
could. It was one of the bravest deeds ever done in 
war and will never be forgotten. The Spaniards cap- 
tured Hobson and his men, but they treated them well, 
and after a time sent all of them back to us in exchange 
for Spanish prisoners of war. 

271. Fighting near Santiago ; the " Rough Riders " ; Cer- 
vera caught. — A few weeks later General Shatter landed 
a large number of American soldiers on the coast of 
Cuba near Santiago. The force included General 
Wheeler's cavalry, and among them were the " Rough 
Riders." A good many of these " Rough Riders " had 
been Western "cowboys"; Colonel Roosevelt was one 
of their leaders, and on horseback or on foot they were 
a match for anything, whether man or beast. 

The Americans at once set out to find the enemy. 
The Spaniards had hidden in the underbrush, where 
they could fire on us without being seen. They opened 
the battle, and as they used smokeless powder, it was 
difficult for our men to tell where the rifle balls came 
from or how to reply to them. But in the end, after 
pretty sharp fighting, we got possession of some high 
ground from which we could plainly see Santiago, where 
Cervera's fleet lay concealed behind the hills. 

A week later our regular soldiers, with the " Rough 
Riders " and other volunteers, stormed up the steep 
heights,^ drove the Spaniards pellmell into Santiago, and 

1 Of El Caney and San Juan (San Wahn), suburbs of Santiago. The battles 
of El Caney and San Juan were fought mainly by the " regulars " — that is, by 
the soldiers of the regular standing army of the United States. Volunteers are 
men who enlist to fight in a war but do not belong to the regular standing or 
permanent army of the country. 



250 THE BEGINNER'S AMERICAN HISTORY 

forced them to take refuge behind the earthworks which 
protected the town. 

Meanwhile Captain Sampson had gone to consult with 
General Shaffer. While he was absent Commodore 
Schley and the other commanders of the fleet kept up a 
sharp lookout for Cervera, who was anxious to escape. 

On Sunday morning, July 3 (1898), a great shout 
was sent up from the flagship Brooklyn, and another 
from Captain Evans's ship, the Iowa : ♦' The Spaniards 
are coming out of the harbor ! " It was true, for the 
sunken Merrimac had only half corked the bottle after 
all, and Cervera was making a dash out, hoping to reach 
the broad Atlantic before we could hit him. 

Then all was excitement. " Open fire ! " shouted 
Schley. We did open fire. The Spanish Admiral was 
a brave man ; he did the best he could with his guns to 
answer us, but it was of no use, and in less than three 
hours all of the enemy's fleet were helpless, blazing 
wrecks. Cervera himself barely escaped with his life. 
He was rescued by the crew of the Gloucester ; as he 
came on board that ship, Commander Wainwright said 
to him, " I congratulate you, sir, on having made a most 
gallant fight." When not long afterward one of our 
cruisers 1 reached Portsmouth, New Hampshire, with 
Cervera and more than seven hundred other prisoners 
of war taken in the battle, the people sent up cheer 
after cheer for the Spanish Admiral who had treated 
Lieutenant Hobson and his men so handsomely. 

272. The end of the war ; what the " Red Cross Society " 
did. — Soon after this crushing defeat the Spaniards 
surrendered Santiago. Next Porto Rico^ surrendered 

1 Cruisers (krew'zers), vessels of war. 2 Porto Rico (Por'to Ree'ko', 



{ 



SINCE THE CIVIL WAR 



251 



to General Miles. By that time Spain had given up 
the struggle and begged for peace. An agreement for 
making a treaty of peace was signed at Washington 
(August 12, 1898). Our Government at once sent a 
despatch to our forces at the Philippines ordering them to 




Charge up San Juan Hill 



stop fighting. Before the despatch could get there, Rear- 
Admiral Dewey and General Merritt had taken Manila. 
The war was not without its bright side. That was 
the noble work done by the "American Red Cross 
Society " under Clara Barton. They labored on battle- 
fields and in hospitals to help the wounded and the sick 



252 THE BEGINNER'S AMERICAN HISTORY 



of both armies, and to soothe the last moments of the 
dying. Many a poor fellow who was called to lay down 
his life for the American cause, and many another who 
fell fighting for Spain, blessed the kind hands that did 
everything that human power could do to relieve their 
suffering. For the " Red Cross " helpers and nurses 
treated all alike. They did not ask under what flag a 

man served or 



what language 
he spoke — it 
was enough 
for them to 
know that he 
needed their 
aid. So, too, 
it is pleasant 
to find that 
the Spanish 
prisoners of 
war were so 




"The Red Cross" 



well treated by our people that when they sailed for Spain 
they hurrahed for America and the Americans with all 
their might. 

While the war was going on we peacefully annexed 
the Republic of Hawaii,^ or the Sandwich Islands 
(July 7, 1898). Before the end of the contest with 
Spain our flag waved above those islands, as a sign that 
they had become part of the territory of the United 
States. Later, it floated, as a sign of conquest, over 
Porto Rico, Manila, the capital of the Philippines, and 



i 



1 Hawaii : pronounced (Hah-wy'ee). See page 220, and the Map of the 
World, page 244. 



SINCE THE CIVIL WAR 253 

Guam,i ^YiQ principal island of the Ladrones, in the 
Pacific. On New Year's Day, 1899, the Spanish colors 
were hauled down at Havana, and the stars and stripes 
took their place, as our sign of guardianship over Cuba. 

Less than three years later (1901) the people of Cuba 
declared themselves independent. At the same time they 
voted to accept the friendly offer of the United States to 
continue to watch over life, liberty, and property in that 
island. In 1902 we withdrew the American flag and 
acknowledged the independence of the Republic of Cuba.^ 

It will be remembered that Havana is the city in 
which Columbus was believed to be buried.^ By order 
of the Queen of Spain, his remains were sent back 
after the war (December 12, 1898) to the city of Valla- 
dolid,^ his old home in Spain .^ To-day the Spaniards 
have nothing left on this side of the Atlantic which they 
can call their own — not even the corpse of the great navi- 
gator who discovered the New World, unless by chance 
his body still rests in the old church in San Domingo.^ 

Many of our people wish to keep all of the islands we 
have conquered from Spain.^ They believe that by so 
doing we shall open new markets for our goods in the 
East, and in China ; and that by having possessions in 
various parts of the globe we shall make the United 
States a great "world-power," — the greatest, perhaps, 
that has ever existed in history. 

1 Guam (Gwam). 

2 Provided Cuba fulfilled certain conditions. 

8 See account of the burial of Columbus on page 13. 

•* Valladolid (Val-ya-do-leed'). Columbus spent the last years of his life there. 
8 But it is said that the remains of Columbus were not actually carried to 
Valladolid, but were deposited in the Cathedral at Seville in Spain. 
6 San Domingo: see page 13. 
^ We paid Spain Ji52o,ooo,ooo for the Philippines. 



254 THE BEGINNER'S AMERICAN HISTORY 

Many other Americans, who are equally patriotic and 
equally proud of their country, believe that it would be 
a mistake for us to keep all of these islands. They say 
that distant possessions would make us weaker instead 
of stronger, that they would be likely to get us into 
quarrels with other nations, and that in the end we should 
have to spend enormous sums of the people's money in 
building more war-ships and fitting out new armies. 

Time tests all things and all men. Time will not fail 
to show which of these two parties is right. That 
decision will add another chapter to the history of our 
country. Let us hope it will be a chapter that both 
you and I shall be glad to read. 

273. The murder of President McKinley. — In the autumn 
of 1900 Major McKinley^ was re-elected President of 
the United States with Colonel Theodore Roosevelt ^ as 
Vice President. 

The next spring (1901) a grand exhibition, called the 
Pan-American Exposition,^ was opened at Buffalo, New 
York. In the autumn President McKinley attended a 
public reception at the Exposition. On this occasion 
(September 6) great numbers of people came forward to 
shake hands with him. Among these was a young man 
who was the son of emigrants that had come to the 
United States from Poland.^ At the moment the Presi- 
dent was reaching out his hand to the young man the 

1 See page 242. 2 See page 249. 

3 Pan-American Exposition, that is, the exhibition of all the nations of 
North, South, and Central America. 

4 The name of the young man was Leon F. Czolgosz (pronounced Chol'gosh). 
He declared himself an Anarchist, that is, one who wishes to overthrow all gov- 
ernment. He was executed at Auburn, New York, October 29, 1901. President 
McKinley is the third President who has been murdered; President Lincoln, 
shot by Booth in 1865, and President Garfield, killed by Guiteau (Ge-toe') in 
1881, being the first two. 



SINCE THE CIVIL WAR 



255 



latter shot him twice with a revolver which he held 
concealed in a handkerchief. The President fell back 
fatally wounded and died about a week later (September 
14). His last words to his friends were: "Good-bye, 
all ; good-bye. It is God's way. His will be done." 




William McKinley 



In accordance with law, Vice-President Roosevelt then 
became President. Five days later (September 19) the 
body of the dead President was laid in its last earthly 
resting-place at his late home in Canton, Ohio. President 
Roosevelt appointed that day for mourning and prayer. 
It was solemnly kept, not only by all the people of the 
United States, but by great numbers of the people of 
Europe, who joined with us in our sorrow. 



256 



THE BEGINNER'S AMERICAN HISTORY 



In London, in Paris, in Berlin, in Edinburgh, and 
other European cities, the American flag was displayed 
draped in black, and funeral services were held in 
Westminster Abbey and other churches. Throughout 
America a great silence fell upon the people when the 




Theodore Roosevelt 

body of the murdered President was laid in the grave. 
In New York, and in many other of our chief cities, 
cars and steamboats ceased to run for a time ; the ever- 
busy telegraph ceased to click its messages, and thou- 
sands of people stood reverently in the streets as if 
they felt that they were present at the burial-ground in 
Ohio. It was an occasion that no one who took part in 
it will ever forget. 



I 



i 



SINCE THE CIVIL WAR 257 

274. Why we hired a strip of land on the Isthmus ^ of 
Panama. — While Mr. Roosevelt ^ was President, the United 
States hired a strip of land on the Isthmus of Panama 
which we can keep as long as we like ^ (see maps facing 
pages 220 and 244). The strip is ten miles wide and it 
extends clear across the Isthmus from the Atlantic to the 
Pacific, a distance of nearly fifty miles. Not far from there 
Columbus attempted to build a town on the Atlantic coast, 
but it came to nothing. On the other side Balboa,^ the 
Spanish explorer, climbed a mountain from which he dis- 
covered the largest ocean on the globe. We paid a num- 
ber of millions of dollars for the right to use that narrow 
and crooked piece of land which we have named the Canal 
Zone, yet in itself it is worth very little. Very few of our 
farmers would give much of anything for it, because most 
of it is made up of rocks, hills, and swamps. Then again, 
very few Americans would care to stay long in a climate 
which is either terribly hot and dry or terribly hot and wet, 
so that people there are baked one half of the year and 
stewed the other half. 

Why, then, were we so eager to get possession of such a 
bit of territory .? It was because after our war with Spain, 
when the battleship Oregon had to sail around the whole 
continent of South America to get from California to Cuba,^ 
we made up our minds that we must construct a canal 
across the Isthmus of Panama. Then our steamships 
and our warships could pass through both ways, say from 

1 Isthmus (Iss'mus) of Panama (Pan-a-mah'), 

2 Roosevelt (Ro'ze-velt) ; see page 255. 

8 Jn 1904 we paid the Republic of Panama J?io,ooo,ooo for the Panama " Canal 
Zone" and agreed that from 1913 we would pay $250,000 every year as long as 
we continued to hold the Zone. 

■1 Balboa; see pages 19 and 20. 

6 On the voyage of the Oregon see page 248. 



258 THE BEGINNER'S AMERICAN HISTORY 

New York to San Francisco or from San Francisco to New 
York, and save thousands of miles in distance and several 
weeks in time. We had already made some use of the 
Isthmus, for after gold was discovered in California an 
American company built a railway across that neck of land, 
which proved to be a complete success. Then a French 
company tried to construct a canal alongside of the rail- 
way, but they wasted so much money and lost so many men 
from sickness that they were glad to sell out their rights to 
us for what we chose to offer. Everybody expected that 
when we began to build our canal in 1905 we should " make 
the dirt fly," but it was slow business, and for several 
years we did not seem to get ahead much. Finally, in 
1907, President Roosevelt appointed Colonel George W. 
Goethals ^ to see what he could do about it. Colonel 
Goethals was an engineer ^ in the United States army, and 
he knew just how to push the work to completion. 

He saw that the first thing to be done was to make the 
Canal Zone so clean and healthful that forty or fifty thou- 
sand men could labor there all day in the hot sun and still 
keep well and strong. Perhaps the greatest enemy he had 
to contend with was mosquitoes — not common mosquitoes, 
but certain dangerous kinds which abound in that climate 
and whose bite means sickness and sometimes death. In 
his fight against these winged pests the new chief engineer 
was entirely successful. ^ He barred the mosquitoes out of 

1 Goethals (Go'thalz). Colonel Goethals is a descendant of an old Dutch 
family that settled in Brooklyn, New York, a great many years ago. He was 
educated at the United States Military Academy at West Point on the Hudson. 

2 Engineer : a military engineer is an officer who makes use of engines and 
machines of different kinds to construct canals, roads, bridges, dams, forts, and 
other important works. 

8 One chief reason why he was successful was that the officer who took charge 
of the cleaning up was Colonel Gorgas (Gor'gas), who is now Surgeon-General 



SINCE THE CIVIL WAR 259 

the houses with wire screens, and then killed them off by 
millions by pouring kerosene in their breeding places. That 
battle never stopped even for a day, and never can stop. 

Next, Colonel Goethals, the "Great Digger," whose 
motto has been " to dig the most dirt for the least money," 
set to work to tame the Chagres River.^ It was a very 
difficult stream to deal with. At that time it flowed across 
the line of the canal he had set out to dig, and in the 
rainy season it became a raging torrent. The Colonel 
found a cure for this. He took the earth he had dug out 
and built a dam over a hundred feet high and nearly a 
mile and a half long.^ This dam held the troublesome 
river in check and converted it into a peaceful lake thirty 
miles long and deep enough for the largest ships to pass 
through.^ That lake is many feet above the level of the 
sea, but Colonel Goethals built some immense locks, or 
water-stairs, by which vessels entering the canal can ascend 
to the lake and can go down from it when they pass out 
j't the other end. 

-ji But, hard as this job about the river was, there was a 
liarder one to come. The line of the canal was blocked 
by the Culebra Hills.^ The highest of these hills are 
about five hundred feet above the canal. They form part 
of that great range of mountains which begins in Alaska 
and extends down through the western part of the United 
States, then across the Isthmus of Panama, and then down 

of the Army of the United States. One of his efficient helpers was Miss Gertrude 
Beeks, who did excellent work in improving health conditions among the Canal 
workmen and their families. 

1 Chagres (Chag'res). 

2 This is the Gatun (Gat-oon') Dam. It is on the Atlantic side, not far from 
the entrance of the Canal. 

8 This is called Gatun Lake. It is eighty-five feet above the level of the sea 
* Culebra Hills (Coo-laTarah). A Spanish word meaning "snake." 



26o 



THE BEGINNER'S AMERICAN HISTORY 



the western coast of South America to Cape Horn, Get 
your atlas and you will see that these mountains are the 
backbone of the American Continent. In order to con- 
struct the canal we had to dig a ditch nearly nine miles 
long, directly through that backbone. At first that seemed' 
an easy thing for our steam shovels to do, for each shovel 
could scoop up a big cartload of earth and stone at a 
mouthful. But just here came an unexpected difficulty : as 




F //'^f^^^-"^K 



The Gatun Locks on the Panama Canal 



fast as we dug the stuff out, the rock above kept crum- 
bling to pieces, sliding down and filling up the ditch. 
Heaps as big as a whole row of houses would come roar- 
ing down and would cover up everything in a moment. 
Then all the wearisome labor of scooping it out had to be 
done over again. This happened time after time and 
month after month. Some of the workmen began to feel 
discouraged and to think we must give it up. The young 
officer who had charge of this particular work never lost 
heart, but he became so worn out with it that all the 



SINCE THE CIVIL WAR 261 

Strength went out of him and he died. Still the battle 
went on day by day, and after seven years of toil the cut 
was made so wide that it was believed the sliding rocks 
could not fall into the ditch. Then Colonel Goethals 
spoke the word, and President Wilson, sitting in his office 
at the White House in Washington, pressed an electric 
button ; the water rushed in, and the great American Canal 
across the Isthmus of Panama was practically finished.^ 

One reason why it was finished was that during all the 
seven years Colonel Goethals made a practice of setting 
apart one day of every week to meet his men. He would 
see them at his office and talk with them in a sensible and 
friendly way about what they were doing, and would find 
out what he could do for them. In this way they all worked 
together like a great family, each one of whom meant to 
do his " level best." 

Now that the Canal is open and boats are going through 
it, the next thing is to finish several forts at each end of it. 
These forts will be armed with cannon — not cannon to 
make war but to keep peace in case any unfriendly battle- 
ships should be foolish enough to come to break it. One 
gun alone can fire a shell as big as a man and weighing 
more than a ton, and it can send that shell whizzing through 
the air for more than twenty miles. These huge guns 
will not be fired unless we are forced to defend the work 



1 Since the Canal was opened there have been more rock-slides, which have 
caused much labor and expense ; but Colonel Goethals expects that in time this 
difficulty can be entirely overcome. This work will increase the cost of the 
Canal so that the total bill may be upwards of ^400,000,000. But it is thought 
that so many vessels will want to use our new waterway that the tolls we shall 
collect from them will help us a great deal in paying for it. At a charge of $1.20 
a ton a steamship of ten thousand tons would pay )pi2,ooo. Still even at that 
rate it will take us many years to reduce the debt and also meet the expense of 
keeping the whole Canal in good working order. 



262 



THE BEGINNER'S AMERICAN HISTORY 



we have completed. Let us hope that the necessity for 
that will never come and that our great waterway will 
always be a highway of peace, which the whole world 
can use and can profit by. 

Now to go back a little. When the eminent French 
engineer began his unsuccessful attempt to cut his canal 

through the Isthmus, many 
years ago, the company set 
up a statue of him there. 
Colonel Goethals has no 
monument or statue on the 
Isthmus. He would not 
want one. He likes best 
to keep in the background 
and let you look at what 
he has done. That speaks 
for him ; it always will 
speak for him.^ 

275. The discovery of the 
North Pole ; the outbreak of 
the Great War in Europe. 
— While the laborers on 
the Isthmus were digging 
the canal and while Mr. Taft was President, a remarkable 
piece of work was done at the North. For many years 
explorers had tried to make their way to the North Pole, 
but had always failed to get there. It was a terrible journey 

1 A man went down to Panama 

Where many a man had died 
To sHt the sliding mountains 

And Hft the eternal tide : 

A man stood up in Panama, 

And the mountains stood aside. 

Percy MacKayb 




William H. Taft 



THE GREAT WAR 263 

over ice and snow and not a few who started on it perished 
miserably of cold and starvation. But in the spring of 
1909 Commander Robert E. Peary ^ of the United States 
navy succeeded in getting to the Pole, and he put up 
an American flag there. Later Captain Amundsen ^ of. 
Norway discovered the South Pole ; so we can now say 
we have seen the top and the bottom of the world. 

In the summer of 19 14, after Mr. Wilson became Presi- 
dent, the greatest war ever known began in Europe.^ 
The people of the United States resolved not to take 
any part in it if they could avoid it, but to do everything 
they could to hasten the coming of peace. To show our 
good will towards all, we sent a ship to Europe loaded 
with Christmas presents for thousands of poor children 
whose fathers had left their homes to go and fight. 
After a time we resolved to enter the Great War, This 
happened because the German submarines (see page 285), 
which had destroyed many English vessels, began to 
blow up American merchant ships trading with England. 
President Wilson told Germany the destruction must stop. 
But it did not stop. When we found that Germany 
meant to keep on making war on us by destroying our 
ships, we saw that we must declare war against her, and 
Congress made that declaration in the spring of 19 17. 

Later on, the President of the United States, who, 
in time of war, is commander-in-chief of all the soldiers 
and sailors in our army and navy, ordered Admiral Sims 
to begin the fight. He accordingly went, as speedily as 
possible, with a number of our warships, to help the 

1 Peary (pee'ry) : afterwards Rear Admiral. 2 Amundsen (ah'mun-sen). 

3 In the Great War, Germany and Austria fought on one side, and Russia, 
France, England, and finally America on the other. Italy and several other nations 
also entered the war ; but meanwhile a revolution made Russia quit fighting. 



264 



THE BEGINNER'S AMERICAN HISTORY 



English fleet hunt down and destroy the terrible German 
submarines, which were enemies to both of us. 

The battle with the submarines was long and hard, for 
these vessels could quickly sink out of sight, could stay 
under water for many hours, or could slyly travel miles 
away without being seen or heard. In the end, however, 

the American and English 
sailors managed, by work- 
ing together, to get the 
better of these slippery 
craft so that fewer and 
fewer escaped. 

But we soon discovered 
that we' should need many 
more warships and that 
we must also have a great 
number of transport ships 
to carry our fighting men 
across the ocean. Nor was 
that all, for we should 
need a whole fleet of other 
ships to carry over food 
and clothing and powder 
and guns for our men. It 
took us a great while to get ready to build these new 
vessels. But after we really set our hands to the work, 
no country in the world ever completed so many ships in 
the same number of days. 

Then we had to meet a still greater difficulty. We 
found that our money was running short, because it 
always costs far more to carry on war, even for a single 
year, than it does to pay the expenses of many years 




Admiral Sims 



THE GREAT WAR 265 

of peace. Well, we did not shrink back frightened and 
declare that we never could raise all the dollars that the 
Government at Washington called for. On the contrary 
we met the case bravelv. We declared that we stood 
ready to give money in taxes and to lend money to the 
Government to use as it saw fit. We did this because 
we felt that we must push the war forward — no matter 




I'up) riylit by Cuniinittee on Public Inlurin.tliuii, 

A United States War-Ship 

what it might cost — until we should win a victory that 
would make us safe in every way. We wanted also to 
make the friendly nations of Europe that were fighting 
along with us as safe as ourselves, on land and sea. 

This feeling explains why so many people took out their 
pocketbooks and paid their taxes, and also bought Lib- 
erty Bonds.i So too, later on, thousands of boys used to 

1 Liberty Bonds. When a man bought one of these bonds — say for f 100 — 
he received a printed promise from the Government that the money should be 
paid back to him at the end of a certain number of years, and that in the mean- 
time he should get interest every year on the bond. 



266 



THE BEGINNER'S AMERICAN HISTORY 



go to the Post Offices and buy War Savings Stamps,^ 
or, if they had not money enough for that, they would 
buy Thrift Stamps.^ Thousands of girls did the same 
thing. They also set to work at home and knit great 
piles of woolen sweaters and socks to send abroad to our 

soldiers. Then, for fear 
that they had not done 
enough, they made up little 
boxes of good things to add 
to what they had sent. 

While these prepara- 
tions were going on, the 
President dispatched Gen- 
eral Pershing with a small 
American army of regular 
troops^ to France, They 
went there to help the 
people in their desperate 
fight against the power- 
ful German armies which 
had entered their country 
and vowed that they would 
conquer it. The enemy was rapidly marching forward 
to capture the great city of Paris,^ the capital of the 

1 War Savings Stamps. These were little bonds which the Government 
sold for ^4.12 and for which the purchaser received ^5.00 at the end of 
five years. These stamps and those mentioned below are still for sale. 

2 Thrift Stamps. These stamps were sold for 25 cents each and when the 
purchaser had bought sixteen of them and pasted them on a " Thrift Card " he 
could exchange them, by paying a little more, for a War Savings Stamp which 
would bring him ^5.00. Great numbers of our young people used to spend 
their quarters for these stamps. 

3 Regular troops are those who make up the permanent army of the United 
States in peace as well as in war. 

4 Paris. See your School Geography map of France or of Europe. 




General Pershing 



> I 



THE GREAT WAR 26/ 

French Republic, which means as much to every true 
Frenchman as the city of Washington does to every 
one of us. 

The people over there swung their hats and cheered 
with all their might when they saw our men landing 
from the vessels. They had good reason for giving such 
a rousing welcome, for these were the first American 
soldiers that we had ever sent to fight anywhere on the 
continent of Europe. Our soldiers went there because 
France, England, and America had joined hands to beat 
back Germany, whose emperor was determined not to let 
any free country rest in peace unless it would give in to 
him and do whatever he ordered. That would have made 
the American people, and those of England and France 
as well, no better than slaves. 

Before our regular troops had gone abroad, we had 
begun getting ready to raise a new and much stronger 
army to follow them. We resolved that this should be 
the largest army that we had ever collected since we first 
called ourselves the "United States of America" and 
since we adopted the Stars and Stripes as our country's 
flag. That, as you know, was more than a hundred and 
forty years ago. (See pages 120, 126, and 129.) 

It is interesting to see how we started to raise such an 
army. It was done in this way : The President com- 
manded all the young men in the whole country to write 
their names and the names of the places where they lived 
on cards which were to be sent to Washington. These 
cards were then numbered and put in small drawers so 
that they could be easily examined when wanted. 

When this task had been accomplished, the Govern- 
ment officer who had charge of the cards gave notice 



268 



THE BEGINNER'S AMERICAN HISTORY 



that on July 20, 191 7, he would proceed to select those 
young men who would enter the new fighting force. 
The selection was made in the fairest possible manner 
so that all might be treated alike, and no one could say 
that his name had been picked out on purpose. This 
was the method : Many slips of paper, each of which 




Salvation Army Lassies 



had a number printed on it, were deposited in a large 
glass jar. Then the officer in charge of the draft closed 
his eyes, bound his handkerchief over them, and, thus 
blindfolded, drew out one of the slips from the jar. 
The slip was then opened, and the number on it decided 
who should first have the privilege of entering the new 
American Army of Liberty. 

All of the young men thus chosen were examined to 
see if they were strong enough to go to war ; if they 



THE GREAT WAR 



269 



were, and were not excused on some other account, they 
went to military camps in different states, to be trained 
as soldiers. A good many of them had never in their 
lives held a gun in their hands, and some had never 
seen a gun fired. But they showed themselves quick to 
learn, prompt to act, and 
eager to do their part in 
the Great War. 

When our men were 
ready they sailed for 
France — many thousands 
going over at a time. The 
Germans, knowing that 
they were coming, ordered 
the captains of their sub- 
marines to be on the 
watch and to sink every 
Yankee transport ship 
with all on board. But 
we too were on the watch, 
and American or English 
war vessels always crossed 
the Atlantic along with 
"our boys " to guard them 
from attack. No Ameri- 
can transport ship was ever sunk on its way to Europe. 

These steamers also carried over to France great num- 
bers of Red Cross nurses and of Salvation Army Lassies, 
as the girls called themselves. They went to look after 
the comfort and welfare of the "boys." The Salvation 
Army Lassies kept near the firing line, and in their huts 
they always held themselves ready to serve the tired 




Red Cross Nurse and Red 
Cross Dog 



270 



THE BEGINNER'S AMERICAN HISTORY 



fighters with hot coffee and hot doughnuts. The Red 
Cross nurses took good care of those who fell sick or who 
were wounded in battle. These faithful nurses were as- 
sisted by Red Cross dogs that were trained to go out and 
search for missing soldiers who had been so badly hurt 
that they could neither move nor call for help. When 
the dogs found such cases they would trot back and get 

some one to go with 
them and bring the 
poor fellows to the 
hospital. 

Now let us see 
how our soldiers lived 
and what they did. 
You might think that 
the first thing they 
would do would be to 
use their guns. No, 
the first thing they 
did was to use their 
spades. They dug 
long lines of deep 
trenches or ditches, and they also hollowed out rude 
rooms and passages underground. These were for shel- 
ter and for defense against attack. So, too, they built 
strong fences and entanglements of barbed wire to keep 
the enemy at a distance. It is safe to say that no one 
likes to stand very long in a ditch, but our soldiers had 
to do it, and when it rained they often stood in mud and 
water a foot deep or more. 

In these trenches and underground "dugouts" the 
men did something more than fight, for there many of 




A Fight in the Sky 



< 



THE GREAT WAR 



271 



them ate and slept. They lived there because oftentimes 
"dugouts" were the only safe places where they could 
live. What did they see when they looked out ? In front 
of them, not very far away, they saw long stretches of 
barbed wire, and back of those cruel-looking entanglements 
they saw trenches like their own, but which swarmed with 




Firing a Big Shell 

German soldiers. These soldiers always fired at ours 
when they had a good chance, just as our men fired at 
the Germans. That was what they were there for. 

Again, both sides used the same kinds of weapons, 
such as guns and machine-guns, each one of which 
could shoot hundreds of bullets in a minute.^ So, too, 

1 Machine-gun. R. J. Galling, an American inventor, brought out the first 
successful gun of this kind in 1S61. It was greatly improved in later years, so 
that it would fire 1200 bullets a minute. 



2/2 



THE BEGINNER'S AMERICAN HISTORY 



both sides threw many thousands of cast-iron explosive 
shells/ about as big as an orange, at each other. Then 
those who worked the cannon fired huge shells, some- 
times weighing a ton or more, which rushed screaming 
through the sky, bursting with a terrific crash when they 
struck, and tearing everything to pieces around them. 




..^^^^^t^JfaQJ^ 



I 



What the Big Shell was aimed at 



While this fighting was taking place on the ground 
desperate battles would often be going on overhead 
between American and German airplanes. Then there 

1 Shells or bombs are made of metal of different forms and sizes. All the 
larger ones are fired from cannon. They are charged with a kind of powder 
much more powerful than our common gunpowder. They are made so that they 
■will explode either when they strike or after a certain time, which is often only a 
few seconds from the moment they leave the gun. 



THE GREAT WAR 



273 



would be days when the soldiers in the trenches, on 
both sides, would suddenly climb out and engage in fierce 
hand-to-hand fights in " No Man's Land," as the strip was 
called which separated the combatants from each other. 

But there was still another kind of fighting which proved 
to be wonderfully effective, and which was entirely different 







What the Big Shell Did 



from anything we have described. Strange to say, though 
the English, French, and Americans made use of this 
new method, the Germans did not learn how to employ 
it until considerably later, and they never accomplished 
very much with it. 

This new war-machine had in the beginning nothing 
at all that was warlike about it. It was a big, strong 



274 THE BEGINNER'S AMERICAN HISTORY 

automobile invented by an American,^ and was manu- 
factured in one of our Western States. It was built to 
do certain kinds of farm work, on rough ground where 
neither horses nor oxen could be used. Because it had 
enormous pulling power it was called a Tractor, and as it 
crept along very slowly, it got the name of the " Cater- 
pillar Tractor." It could easily force its way over stones 
and through brush and up and down steep places where 
an ordinary automobile would have been upset and 
knocked to pieces. In doing this the Tractor could drag 
gangs of heavy plows which would break up the hardest 
soil and prepare it for raising crops of wheat and corn. 

An English military officer happened to see this go-ahead 
machine. He gazed at it in silence and then exclaimed, 
" This is just the sort of thing we want in the war against 
the Germans, for this tiling can be made to figJitX " He 
bought several of these tractors before the parts were put 
together, and had the parts boxed up and shipped to Eng- 
land. There some alterations were made in the strange 
machines and they were covered over with plates of steel. 
All work on them was done secretly in order that the Ger- 
mans might not find out what they were. Luckily a report 
got abroad that they were water-carriers, though in reality 
they were forts on wheels, made to carry men and guns. 
When they were finished they were sent off by night to 
the battlefields of France. As soon as the English sol- 
diers over there caught sight of them they laughed out- 
right at the awkward way in which these new water-carriers 
stumbled along. They nicknamed them "' Tanks," and 
predicted that they would speedily get wrecked. But the 
" Tanks " astonished everybody by beating down and 

1 Benjamin Holt of Stockton, California. 



THE GREAT WAR 



275 



breaking through German barbed-wire entanglements and 
utterly destroying the enemy's nests of machine-guns. 
Besides, what harm could their showers of bullets do to 
these slow-moving monsters, protected by walls of steel, 
which stopped at nothing, but went straight across trenches 
or down into them and out again without tipping over ? 




A Tank on the Battlefield 



From that time on, it was plain that however queer the 
"Tanks" might look or act, they would certainly "do 
their bit." They did do it, and so helped to gain some 
hard-fought battles that might have been lost without them. 

But the war itself was now changing. Our men were 
no longer standing in muddy trenches week after week, 
since the armies on both sides had begun to move. Little 
by little, General Pershing's great American army in the 



2/6 THE BEGINNER'S AMERICAN HISTORY 

east of France was gaining ground from the enemy. So, 
too, the Americans who were acting with the French and 
English armies on the west were gaining. All of them 
working together were steadily pushing the Germans out 
of France and out of Belgium and compelling them to 
move back toward Germany. 

Still the German troops, even while they were retreating, 
continued their terrible work of destruction. Often when 
they left a city or a country village which they had cap- 
tured and held, they left it a, mass of smoking ruins. 
The officers accomplished this by ordering a certain num- 
ber of men to remain behind long enough to burn down 
buildings, to blow up bridges, destroy roads, fill up wells, 
and saw down fruit trees. So far as practicable they 
seemed determined to leave nothing that could be of 
use or value to the French or Belgian people who had 
made these places their homes. 

Notwithstanding this far-reaching destruction the time 
had at last arrived when everyone could see that the end 
of the Great War was near. Our men had not been 
fighting long, but they had fought bravely and well. 
Their reward came on November ii, 191 8 — "Victory 
Day." On that memorable day the Germans gave, up, 
and solemnly bound themselves to do what France, Eng- 
land, America, and Italy demanded. Then the last gun 
was fired, and the fighting stopped. Not very long after- 
ward, " Our Boys " began to return, full of joy at the 
thought of setting foot on American soil again. Later, 
General Pershing came back and marched at the head of 
a division of his victorious soldiers through the streets of 
Washington. It was a sight never to be forgotten. Since 
then England, France, and Italy, with other nations, have 







Pershing's Victorious Army in Washington 

2/7 



2/8 



THE BEGINNER'S AMERICAN HISTORY 



made a final peace with Germany. We, too, sliall publicly 
declare, in some way that everyone can understand, that 
the Great War is over, and that we believe Peace has 
come to make her home with us all. 

276. The unfinished pyramid ; making history. — On one 
of the two great seals ^ of the United States a pyramid 





First Great Seal of the 
United States 



Second Great Seal of the 
United States 



is represented partly finished. It stands for our country. 
The American republic now has forty-eight states, and it 

1 Seals: the first great seal, having the eagle and the Latin motto '' E Phni- 
bus Union;' meaning " Many in One," — or one nation made up of many states, 
— was adopted June 20, 1782. The spread eagle signifies strength; the thir- 
teen stars above his head and the thirteen stripes on the shield on his breast 
represent the thirteen original states ; the olive branch, held in the eagle's right 
talon, shows that America seeks peace, while the bundle of arrows in his left talon 
shows that we are prepared for war. This seal is used in stamping agreements 
or treaties made by the United States with other nations, and also for other 
important papers. 

The second great seal, adopted at the same time, was never used. It was 
intended for stamping the wax on a ribbon attached to a treaty or other important 
paper, thus making a hanging seal. The Latin motto " Auintit Ca-ptis,'' above 
the all-seeing eye looking down with favor on the unfinished pyramid, means 
''God has favored the work." The date .JVIDCCLXXVI, or 1776, marks the 
Declaration of Independence. The Latin motto at the bottom, " Noths Ordo 
Scclorum^' means " A New Order of Ages," — or a new order of things, such as 
we have in this New World of America. 



THE UNFINISHED PYRAMID 2/9 

Stretches clear across the continent from the Atlantic to 
the Pacific.^ That pyramid shows how much has been done 
and how much still remains to be done. The men whose 
lives we have read in this little book were all builders. 
By patient and determined labor they added stone to 
stone, and so the good work grew. Now they have gone ; 
and it is for us to do our part and make sure that the 
pyramid, as it rises, shall continue to stand square, and 
strong, and true. 

What is said about the North and the South since the Civil War ? 
Tell about the growth of the South. What is said about the West? 
What is said about railroads ? What is said about people going West ? 

How long is it since Columbus discovered America? What is said 
about the celebration of that discovery ? What is said about the pos- 
sessions which Spain once had in North America ? What is said of 
the rebellion in Cuba ? What is said about the destruction of the 
Maine ? What did the United States do ? Give an account of Com- 
modore Dewey's victory. What is said of Cervera's fleet? What did 
Hobson do? What is said about the fighting near Santiago? Who 
were the "Rough Riders"? What happened to Cervera's fleet? 
When did the end of the war come ? What is said of the " Red 
Cross'"? What is said of Hawaii? Over what islands does our flag 
now wave? What is said about the remains of Columbus? What do 
people think in regard to keeping all of the islands now under our con- 
trol? What terrible event occurred at Buffalo in the autumn of 1901 ? 

What strip of land did we buy while Mr. Roosevelt was President ? 
Why did we buy it? Can you give some account of the great work 
Colonel Goethals did there ? 

What great discovery did Commander Peary make in 1909? What 
terrible thing happened in the summer of 19 14 ? What did the United 
States resolve to do about it ? Can you give some account of the Great 
War, and of what we did in it ? How did it end ? 

What is said about one of the great seals of the United States ? What 
does the unfinished pyramid stand for ? What does it show us ? What is 
said of the men whose lives we have read in this book ? Is there any- 
thing left for Us to do ? 

Note on Washington's Signature shown on page 103, and on the Day of his 
Birth cut on the old stone shown on page 105. 

The English year formerly began on March 25, but in 1752 Parliament ordered 
it to begin on January i. 

In the case given here (page 103), according to the first method, March 12 
would occur in 1744, while according to the second method, which was gradually 

1 See map facing page 220. 



28o 



THE BEGINNER'S AMERICAN HISTORY 



coming into use before the law of 1752 was passed, March 12 would occur 
in 1745. For the sake of convenience Washington, like many others, used 
both dates. 

Another important change made in 1752 was the adding of eleven days to 
the year, in order to correct an error through which it fell short. For this reason 
we now make February 22 the date of Washington's birth, although the date 
cut on the old stone shown on page icj is "The nth of February." 

On these changes in reckoning time .see Chambers's Encyclopaedia, under 
" Chronology," page 229. 

A noble gift to the nation (see page 223). After President Lincoln's death, 
an Association was formed which purchased the farm and log cabin where he was 
born (1809) near Hodgenville, in Hardin (now La Rue) County, Kentucky. The 
Association erected a beautiful granite Memorial Hall to shelter and preserve 
the simple home of his childhood. On September 4, 1916, the Hall, cabin, and 
farm were presented to the nation, with a fund of ?i5o,ooo to maintain them for 
the future. Above the entrance to the Hall is the following inscription : 

Here, over the log cabin where Abraham Lincoln was bom, destined to preserve the 
Nation and to free the slave, a grateful people have dedicated this Memorial to unity, 
peace, and brotherhood among these States. 

In 1920 the American people completed a grand Memorial Building in 
Washington in honor of Lincoln's life and services to our country. It stands at 
the farther end of the beautiful park which extends from the National Capitol 
to the Potomac River. 




AMERICAN INVENTIONS 



i 



» 



XXX. A SUPPLEMENTARY CHAPTER ON SOME 
REMARKABLE AMERICAN INVENTIONS 

A World's Fair was held at San Francisco in 191 5 to 
celebrate Balboa's discovery of the Pacific, more than four 
hundred years ago,^ and Colonel Goethals's completion 
of the Panama Canal, uniting the waters of the Atlantic 
and the Pacific.^ 

Of the multitude of things exhibited at that Fair nothing 
was more interesting than some of the inventions which 
have made Americans famous. One of these inventions 
was a little machine which would add up a long column 
of figures in less than half the time that you or I could 
do it. Another interesting thing was a model of one of 
the big steam shovels used in digging the Panama Canal. 
Those big shovels did more hard work in an hour than 
six hundred men could do, with hand shovels, in that 
time. A third invention was a press which could print 
more than a thousand newspapers in a minute, fold 
them, and pile them up. Looking at these things we can 
understand why American machines are sold and used 
throughout the world. In this book you have read some- 
thing about Whitney's Cotton Gin,^ Fulton's Steamboat,'^ 
and Morse's Telegraph ^ ; the telephone too has been 
mentioned ^ ; but there are several other inventions which 
should be spoken of here. 

1 See page 20. 3 See page 159. 5 See page 198. 

2 See pages 257-262. ^ gee page 175. 6 See page 202. 

283 



284 



THE BEGINNER'S AMERICAN HISTORY 



277. Robert Fulton's "Diving-Boat." — You have already 
seen that Fulton spent a great deal of work on this boat.^ 
He said he hoped the time would come when it would 
destroy so many warships that it would put an end to all 
fighting on the ocean. That was more than a hundred 




years ago. Well, within a short time a 
large number of these " Diving-Boats " 
have been built in Europe, in Japan, 
and in the United States. They are 
now called Submarines,^ because they 
can travel beneath the surface of the 
sea. Some of them can go many hun- 
dreds of miles. When one of these 
vessels gets sight of an enemy's ship, 
it sends out a torpedo to destroy it. 
The torpedo looks like a large fish. 
It moves swiftly under water toward 
the ship, and when it strikes, it ex- 
plodes and tears a great hole in the 
ship, which soon sinks. We all know 
that the Submarines did some terri- 
ble work in the Great War.^ But in 
times of peace these " Diving-Boats " can often be used to 
explore parts of the ocean, to find the remains of wrecked 
vessels, and also to take very interesting m.oving pictures 
of life under the sea. 

278. A machine for cutting grain. — A hundred years 
ago wheat and other grain were cut by hand. A Virginia 

1 See page 174. 2 Submarines (sub-ma-reens'). 3 See pages 263-264. 




Captain of a submarine, 
under water, looking 
through a peculiar 
kind of spyglass at a 
steamer in the distance 



! 



AMERICAN INVENTIONS 



285 



farmer said to himself, " Why can't I make a machine 
which my horses can draw and which will cut my wheat in 
less time than a dozen men can do it with sickles or 
cradles ? " He constructed a machine but it did not satisfy 
him, and he left it to rust to pieces where it stood. 

His son, Cyrus H. McCormick, made up his mind that 
he would find out why his father's Reaper would not work. 
Cyrus had learned to do one thing at a time, and to do 




Submarine attacking a Steamer 

the hardest thing first. Now the hardest thing in this 
case was to discover why the Reaper, when it cut the 
wheat, would not throw it down straight, so that it could 
be easily made up into bundles for the thrashing-machine 
which separated the grain from the straw.^ 

By patient effort young McCormick succeeded in mak- 
ing a Reaper which would do what was wanted. This was 
in 183 1. But he had to wait nine years before any one 
bought one of his new machines, and even then he found 

1 The Thrashing-Machine was invented in England many years before 
McCormick invented his Reaper. 



286 



THE BEGINNER'S AMERICAN HISTORY 



that he must make it still better. This he set to work and 
did ; but not many farmers there could afford to purchase 
it. Finally a friend said to him, " Cyrus, why don't you 
go West with your Reaper, where the land is level and 
where it is difficult for the farmers to hire men enough 
to cut all the grain that grows ?" " Yes," answered Cyrus, 
" I will go West." He started at once, and for the first 
time in his life saw a prairie.^ It stretched out as far as 
the eye could see, and seemed as smooth as a barn floor. 
Then the thought came to him, " What must this country 







Cutting Wheat with Sickle, Cradle, and Reaper 

look like when it is covered with golden fields of wheat .'' " 
" Now," said he, " I see what I really made my machine 
for. I must come out here and build it, for every farmer 
will be sure to buy it." 

He traveled on until he came to Lake Michigan. On 
the southern shore of the lake he stopped at a town called 
Chicago. " Here," said Mr. McCormick, " I shall start 
business, for this town is going to grow, and my busi- 
ness will grow with it." He made no mistake that time. 
He built Reapers and found no difficulty in selling them. 
He kept steadily at work, and he kept making improvements 

1 Prairie (pra'ry). 



I 



AMERICAN INVENTIONS 28/ 

in his work. He got his Reapers so that they would cut the 
grain rapidly and smoothly and then tie it up in bundles. 

Having done all this, he took the last step. He made 
a new Reaper or Harvester which would do all that the 
old one did, and would even thrash out the grain besides. 
This accomplished everything that the Western farmer 
could ask, for it filled row after row of bags with the pre- 
cious wheat which gives us " our daily bread." Meanwhile 
other men had entered the business, so that now no city 
in the world makes so many Reapers and Harvesters as 
the great city of Chicago does. 

279. What Eliasi Howe did. —While Cyrus H. McCormick 
was busy in the West, a young man of the name of Howe 
was just as busy in the garret of a house in Cambridge, 
Massachusetts. When some one asked him what he was 
trying to make, he answered, " I am trying to make a 
machine that will sew cloth." His answer was met by 
a loud laugh. Mr, Howe paid no attention to the laugh, 
but kept quietly at work. By the end of the winter he 
managed to put together a clumsy contrivance which he 
called his " Iron Needle-woman," This was in 1845, 

He hoped that in time his machine would be able to 
sew faster than any girl, but in the end people found that 
the " Iron Needle-woman " could sew faster than ten girls. 
The young man expected to sell his invention to the tailors, 
but they were afraid that if they bought the machines, the 
men they hired to do sewing by hand would refuse to use 
them for fear of losing their jobs of hand-sewing, so they 
declined to have anything to do with him. 

Then Mr, Howe took ship for London, thinking that 
perhaps he could dispose of his invention in that city. 

1 Elias (E-Ii'as). 



288 THE BEGINNER'S AMERICAN HISTORY 

There he was worse off than he was at home, for though 
the tailors would try his machine, they would not pay him 
anything for it. He decided that he must leave England 
and go back to America. He found that the only way 
he could get money enough to pay his passage across the 
ocean was to borrow it and leave his '' Iron Needle- woman " 
as security. When he landed in New York he had less 
than a dollar in his pocket. That was discouraging. Then 
came a still harder experience. He learned that while he 
was abroad some one had been making and selling his 
invention who had no lawful right to do so. 

In fact, a man in western New York was traveling 
about, at that very time, and exhibiting his machine to 
any one who would pay twelve cents to see it. Here is 
one of the showman's hand-bills. 

A GREAT 
CURIOSITY 

THE YANKEE SEWING MACHINE 

is now 

EXHIBITING 

AT THIS PLACE 

FROM 

8 A.M. to 5 P.M. 

Many ladies went to see it and bought fancy work done 
on it — all frills and flourishes. They carried the work 
home to show their friends what the wonderful " Iron 
Needle-woman " could do. Still very few believed that 
the machine would ever prove to be of any real use in 
a family. 



I 



AMERICAN INVENTIONS 289 

Mr. Howe was too poor to go to law to protect his 
rights, but he at length found means to prevent others 
from taking his machine away from him. Then he be- 
came prosperous, and this man who once did not have a 
dollar in his pocket, began to complain that he had n't 
pockets enough to hold all the dollars that poured in 
on him. 

At the same time several other inventors made various 
improvements in the Sewing Machine. Finally one of 
them constructed a machine that would sew leather with a 
waxed thread. This opened a new field of work. To-day 
most of our clothing is made by sewing machines, and our 
boots and shoes are generally stitched together by them. 
The result is that now both clothing and footwear are far 
cheaper than they would be if they were made by hand. 

280. How the Telephone ^ was invented. — Long after the 
Sewing Machine had come into use, Professor Alexander 
G. Bell, of Boston, began to make experiments with the 
human voice.^ His friends thought that he was wasting 
his time, but he said, " Professor Morse made an electric 
wire write,^ while I hope to do still better, for I believe I 
can make an electric wire talk." 

After many disappointments he succeeded in sending 
a faint sound over a wire which passed from one room 
to another. Next he stretched one from the basement of 
a building in Boston up to the third floor. One day when 
he was at work he called down through this wire to his 
assistant, " Mr. Watson, come up here ; I want you." 
Mr. Watson rushed upstairs greatly excited, crying out, 

1 See page 202. 

2 Professor Bell had been teaching some deaf-and-dumb children in Canada. 
Then he left there and took up the same work in Boston. 

3 See page 198. 



290 



THE BEGINNER'S AMERICAN HISTORY 



" Mr. Bell, I can hear your words ! " Then Mr. Bell 
knew that he had made the wire speak. 

That was in the spring of 1876. In the summer a 
World's Fair was held at Philadelphia to celebrate the 
remarkable things which had been done in the United 
States since the Declaration of Independence a hun- 
dred years before.^ Mr. Bell took his Speaking Wire, or 
" Talking Telegraph," to exhibit it at the Fair.^ Nobody 
seemed to pay much attention to it 



But one evening 




Denver 



Chicago 




San Francisco 



New York 



the Emperor of Brazil came in 
and said, " Professor Bell, I am 
delighted to meet you again ; I 
want to see your new machine." 
Mr. Bell went to the end of the long hall and took up 
the mouthpiece of the wire, while the Emperor, stand- 
ing where Mr. Bell had left him, picked up the other 
end and put it to his ear. He listened a moment, and 
then, suddenly throwing his head back, he exclaimed : 
'' Why, it talks ! " 

Yes, it did talk, and it has been talking ever since. 
At first the Telephone, as it was finally named, could only 
be used for very short distances. But now, after many 
years of improvement, it will talk clear across the United 
States from the Atlantic to the Pacific. This was done in 
January, 1 9 1 5 . To-day a boy, going into a Telephone office 
in New York, can speak to a boy in San Francisco and 



1 See page 120. 

2 Professor Bell at first called his invention a " Talking Telegraph.' 



AMERICAN INVENTIONS 29I 

hear what he says in repi)-. The Telephone makes the 
two boys just as near together, so far as talking is concerned, 
as though they lived in the same house. This is done by 
using an electric wire over three thousand miles long. 
But people are beginning to telephone to each other with- 
out using any wire, just as they can telegraph without one. 
In both cases they send their messages through the air. 

281. Mr. Edison and his work. — Thomas A. Edison be- 
gan earning his living by selling newspapers on a railroad 
train in Michigan. He was then a boy of twelve. A few 
years later he began printing a small weekly paper of his 
own in the baggage car of the train. After he had grown 
to manhood he invented (1877), the "Talking-machine," 
or Phonograph. 1 That machine makes a record of what 
is said to it and can repeat the words years afterward. It 
can also repeat music in the same way. Once people would 
have declared such a thing impossible, but Mr. Edison 
found a way of doing it. Now his Phonograph has become 
so common that almost every one has heard it talk or sing. 
Besides being used for amusement it is used for business. 

Next Mr. Edison invented (1879) the Electric Light, 
which we see in so many houses and stores. The next 
year (1880) he built an Electric Car, which he used for a 
while at Menlo Park, New Jersey, where he then lived. 
That set people thinking how convenient it would be to 
have electric cars to travel by ; now they are rushing in 
all directions over the United States. 

Later on, Mr. Edison took up a small toy which showed 
a few pictures in motion, the size of postage stamps. He 
greatly improved that toy, and out of it, in 1895, he pro- 
duced the Moving-Pictures which we know so well. 

1 Phonograph (fo'nograf). 



292 



THE BEGINNER'S AMERICAN HISTORY 



"III. -"ii. 



iiiifii||aMi^ 



How often, in the past, people had looked at pictures 
hanging on a wall, or shown on a screen by a magic 
lantern, and felt that they lacked only one thing to 

make them complete. That one 
thing was motion. A painting rep- 
resenting a vessel bounding over 
the waves in a stiff breeze, or an 
express train flying through the 
country, might be excellent ■ — but 
then not a wave rolled, not a wheel 
turned. Suddenly, to everybody's 
astonishment, all this was changed. 
When some Indians in Colorado 
went to see Edison's pictures of a 
fast train, the sight was too much 
for them. They jumped up with a 
yell and ran wildly out of the hall ; 
for there, directly facing them, they 
saw the engine coming straight at 
them at a speed of a mile a minute. 
The Red Men felt sure that if they 
had kept their seats a few seconds 
longer, they would all have been 
dead Indians, It is this wonderful 
reality in Moving-Pictures which 
draws crowds who never tire of 
looking at them. 
So when we go to one of these exhibitions and see a fleet 
of United States warships sailing into the harbor of New 
York, with every flag flying, or when we look on some merry 
scene which rouses a hearty laugh all around, we are glad 
that Edison's inventive skill made these things possible. 




Some Moving-Pictures 

OF A Football Game 



AMERICAN INVENTIONS 293 

282. The Flying-Machine. — Eight years after Edison 
began to astonish people with his marvelous pictures, two 
brothers, Orville Wright and Wilbur Wright, of Dayton, 
Ohio, did something remarkable that the world had never 
seen done before. It is true that an old Greek story ^ 
tells us that a daring boy once made an attempt of the 
same kind. He took a pair of wings made of birds' 
feathers and wax, fastened them on his shoulders, and 
flew up into the sky ; but his wings dropped off and he 
fell into the sea and was drowned. The two Wright 
brothers also set out to learn to fly, but instead of making 
wings they made a flying-machine. It was simply a long, 
light frame of wood covered with cotton cloth which they 
called a "Glider." They would take it to the top of a 
hill, and when the wind blew strong and steadily, one 
of them would mount the "Glider" and slide down hill 
on. the air. It was good fun unless the wind happened to 
give out and let the rider down with a bump. But after 
all, this was not flying as a bird flies, so the Wrights 
decided to do something different. 

They made a very light engine, like the engine of an 
automobile, and fastened it on the " Glider." The engine 
drove an air-wheel which pushed it forward, somewhat 
as the paddle-wheels of a steamboat push that forward. 
They practised awhile with this, and at last, in 1903, their 
"Flying-Machine" — for it was more than a "Glider" 
now — actually flew with one of them, against the wind, 
for fifty-nine seconds ! They tried hard to keep up in 
the air for a whole minute, but could not. After a while 
they succeeded, one at a time, in keeping up for several 
minutes ; but they nearly always had to fly in a straight 

1 See " A Lost Secret " in Gods and Heroes, published by Ginn and Company. 



294 



THE BEGINNER'S AMERICAN HISTORY 



line, for if they tried to turn corners — especially sharp 
corners — they were in great danger of tumbling down. 

However, they were not the kind of men to give up. 
They were determined that their machine should turn and 
twist like a letter S ; so they watched the hawks and gulls 
to see how they managed. These big birds seemed to be 
laughing at them, for they would spread their wings and 









^v 



1 y. 






-x>- .__-. 






The Simplest Form of Airship 



fly swiftly round and round as if they enjoyed the game. 
At length the two brothers found out how the birds did it, 
and the next year they made two circular flights of three 
miles each. Then it was their turn to laugh. 

In 1909 they went to Fort Myer, near Washington, 
to show some officers of the United States Government 
what they could do. The Government offered to give a 
prize of twenty-five thousand dollars to any man who 
could accomplish these three things : 



AMERICAN INVENTIONS 



295 



1. He must fly a whole hour without coming down, 

2. He must take a passenger with him in his flight. 

3. He must fly at the rate of not less than forty miles 
an hour. 

One of the Wrights did all these things, and better too. 
He went up in his Airship, or Aeroplane,^ as it is now 
generally called, and flew with a passenger for more than 
an hour. Next, he flew 
at the rate of a little more 
than forty-two miles an 
hour. Thousands watched 
him as he glided like a 
bird through the sky and 
then lighted on the grass 
as easily and gracefully as 
a bird lights. 

The great crowd cheered 
and shouted like mad. The 
United States Government 
was entirely satisfied. It 
not only paid the Wright 
brothers twenty-five thou- 
sand dollars for their Air- 




WooDROW Wilson 



ship, but it gave them five thousand dollars more, because 
they had made greater speed than was demanded. These 
two men, by years of patient and persistent effort, had 
won the victory. They had taught the world how to travel 
through the air. Some of their friends asked them if it was 
very hard work finding out how to do it. They answered, 
"Yes ; it was," But they said, "After all, it is easier for 
a man to learn to fly than for a child to learn to walk." 

1 Aeroplane (a'er-o-plane). I5ut we now often call it the Airplane. 



296 THE BEGINNER'S AMERICAN HISTORY 

Now Airships are an every-day sight in many parts of 
the world, and Flying-Boats are frequently seen. They 
can skim over the surface of the sea at a great rate, 
and can then rise and fly if they like. Airships have been 
employed to cross deserts, and mountains, and regions 
covered with ice. They are of immense value in war, and 
no armies to-day would feel like fighting without their 
help. They are also coming into use for carrying mail 
and passengers and express parcels. 

In 19 19 Commander Read, an officer in our navy, 
started in one of these winged boats and flew through 
the air across the Atlantic Ocean from Long Island, 
New York, to the city of Lisbon in Europe.^ No such 
wonderful thing had ever been done before, and some of 
the papers called him the " American Columbus of the 
air," because he had discovered a new way of crossing 
the ocean. 

While the Wright brothers were growing up and while 
they were learning to travel through the air, two more 
remarkable machines came into use. One of these was 
the Typewriter, which was exhibited at the World's Fair 
in Philadelphia in 1876, and which now writes business 
letters all over the world. The other machine was the 
" Horseless Carriage," which we call the Automobile,^ 
and which began to attract a good deal of attention about 
1900. It did not move very rapidly at first, but now it 
enables people to rush through the country at a rate of 
speed which sometimes beats even the railway trains. 

1 He flew first from America to the island of Newfoundland, where he took 
a rest ; then he flew to the Islands of the Azores (A-zorz'), and after another 
short rest he flew to Lisbon and then on to England. By taking a school atlas 
you can follow him clear across. 

2 Automobile (aw-to-mo'bil). 



I 



AMERICAN INVENTIONS 297 

Neither of these wonderful inventions was made by 
one man. Like Topsy, in the story of Uncle Tovi s 
Cabin, both " grow'd." Both were thought out and built 
up, little by little, by a number of men, each one adding 
something until at last Typewriter and Automobile have 
become practically perfect. 

What two things did the World's Fair at San Francisco celebrate ? 
Can you mention three inventions exhibited at that Fair? 

What is said about Fulton's Diving-Boat? How does a Submarine 
attack a vessel ? How can a Submarine be used in times of peace ? 

Who invented a Reaper for cutting grain ? Why did Cyrus McCormick 
go West ? Did he succeed there ? What did Elias Howe do ? Did he 
succeed ? Can you tell how the Telephone was invented ? How far 
can we telephone now ? What is said about Edison's Talking-Machine ? 
Did Mr. Edison make any electrical inventions ? What is said about 
Moving-Pictures? What did the Indians think of Edison's pictures? 
What do you think about them ? 

What did the Wright brothers try to invent ? Can you give some 
account of their " Glider " ? What did the Wrights do in 1903 ? What 
did one of them do at Fort Myer in 1909? What did the Wrights 
teach the world ? What are Airships used for ? 

What is said about the Typewriter ? What about the Automobile ? 
Was either of these inventions made by one man ? 



I 



APPENDIX 

A SHORT LIST OF BOOKS OF REFERENCE 

{For the Use of Teachers) 

This brief list is arranged alphabetically. It consists, with a few exceptions, of 
small, one-volume biographies; all of which are believed to be of acknowledged merit. 

A much fuller reference list will be found in the appendix to the author's larger 
work, entitled The Leaditig Facts of American History. 

Balboa : Irving's Companions of Columbus, and Winsor's America, 
Vol. II. 

Baltimore, Lord: William H. Browne's Lords Baltimore^; G. W. 
Burnap's Baltimore.^ 

Boone, Daniel : C. B. Hartley's Boone (including Boone's autobiog- 
raphy) ; J. M. Peck's Boone ^ ; and see the excellent sketch of Boone's 
life in Theodore Roosevelt's The Winning of the West, Vol. I. 

Cabot (John and Sebastian) : William H. Johnson's The World's Dis- 
coverers : The Story of Bold Voyages by Brave Navigators (Little, 
Brown & Co., Boston) ; J. F. Nicholls's Cabot ; C. Hayward's Cabot.i 

Clark, George Rogers : see Theodore Roosevelt's The Winning of the 
West, Vol. II. 

Columbus : William H. Johnson's The World's Discoverers : The Story 
of Bold Voyages by Brave Navigators (Little, Brown & Co., Boston); 
Irving's Columbus, abridged edition; Charles K. Adams's Colum- 
bus^; Edward Everett Hale's Columbus. 

De Leon : Irving's Companions of Columbus, and Winsor's America, 
Vol. II. 

De Soto : see Winsor's America, Vol. II. 

Franklin, Benjamin : D. H. Montgomery's Franklin (autobiography 
and continuation of life) ^ ; John T. Morse's Franklin.'' 

Fulton, Robert: J. Renwick's Fulton i; R. H. Thurston's Fulton 3; 

Thos. W. Knox's Fulton.* 
Gray, Robert: see H. H. Bancroft's Pacific States, Vol. XXII. 

Harrison, William Henry: H. Montgomery's Harrison; S. J. Burr's 

Harrison. 
Holland, R. S. : Historic Inventions. 

Houston, Sam : Henry Bruce's Houston ^ ; C. E. Lester's Houston. 
Hudson, Henry : H. R. Cleveland's Hudson. ^ 

Jackson, Andrew : James Parton's Jackson ; W. G. Sumner's Jackson.^ 
Jefferson, Thomas : James Schouler's Jefferson '^ ; John T. Morse, Jr.'s 

Jefferson.'' 

i 



11 THE BEGINNER'S AMERICAN HISTORY 

Lincoln, Abraham: Carl Schurz's Lincoln; Isaac N. Arnold's Lincoln; 

Noah Brooks's Lincoln* ; J. G. Holland's Lincoln ; F. B. Carpenter's 

Six Months at the White House with Lincoln. 
Morse, Samuel F. B. : S. I. Prime's Morse; Denslow and Parke's 

Morse (Cassell). 
Oglethorpe, James Edward : Bruce's Oglethorpe^; W. B. O. Peabody's 

Oglethorpe. 1 
Penn, William : G. E. Ellis's Penn i ; W. H. Dixon's Penn ; J. Stough- 

ton's Penn. 
Philip, King: H. M. Dexter's edition of Church's King Philip's War 

(2 vols.) ; Richard Markham's King Philip's War. 

Note. — The story of Colonel Goffe's appearance at Hadley during the Indian 
attack on that town rests on tradition. Some authorities reject it ; but Bryant and Gay 
say (History of the United States, II, 410), "There is no reason for doubting its 
essential truth." 

Putnam, Rufus : see H. B. Carrington's Battles of the Revolution, 

Rufus King's History of Ohio, and Bancroft's United States. 
Raleigh, Walter : L. Creighton's Raleigh ; E. Gosse's Raleigh ; W. M. 

Towle's Raleigh. 8 
Robertson, James : see Theodore Roosevelt's The Winning of the 

West, Vol. I. 
Sevier, John : see Theodore Roosevelt's The Winning of the West, 

Vol. I. 
Smith, John : G. S. Hillard's Captain John Smith 1 ; C. D. Warner's 

Smith." 

Note. — The truth of the story of Pocahontas has been denied by Mr. Charles 
Deane and some other recent writers ; but it appears never to have been questioned 
until Mr. Deane attacked it in 1866 in his notes to his reprint of Captain John Smith's 
True Relatioii or Newes from Virginia. Professor Edward Arber discusses the 
question in his Introduction (pp. cxv-cxviii) to his excellent edition of Smith's writings. 
He says, "To deny the truth of this Pocahontas incident is to create more difficulties 
than are involved in its acceptance." See, too, his sketch of the life of Captain Smith 
in the Encyclopaedia Briiannica. 

Standish, Myles : see J. A. Goodwin's Pilgrim Republic, and Alexander 
Young's Chronicles of the Pilgrims. 

Sutter, John A. : see H. H. Bancroft's Pacific States, Vol. XVIII. 

Washington, George : John Fiske's Irving's Washington and his Coun- 
try 2 ; E. E. Hale's Washington * ; Horace E. Scudder's Washington.^ 

Whitney, Eli : Denison Olmsted's Whitney. 

Williams, Roger : W. R. Gammell's Williams 1 ; H. M. Dexter's Williams. 

Winthrop, John : Joseph H. Twichell's Winthrop.^ 

' In Sparks's Library of American Biography: Little, Brown & Co., Boston. 
^ In Classics for Children Series: Ginn & Company, Boston. 
3 In Makers 0/ America Series: Dodd, Mead & Co., New York. 

* In Boys and Girls' Library of American Biography: G. P. Putnam's Sons, 
New York. 

^ In the Riverside Library for Young People: Houghton, Mifflin & Co., Boston. 

« In Lives of American Worthies : Henry Holt & Co., New York. 

' In Tlie Americafi Statesmen Series : Houghton, Mifflin & Co., Boston. 

* In The Heroes of History Series: Lee & Shepard, Boston. 



INDEX 



Admiral (Ad'mi-ral) (note), 6. 

/Esop's Fables, The Frog (note), 226. 

Airship, the, or Airplane, invented, 293-2C/1. 

Alamance (Al'a-mance), battle of, 140. 

Alamo (Al'a-mo), battle of, 207. 

Alaska purchased, 219. 

America, Northmen discover (note), 15. 

Columbus discovers, 8, 9. 

Cabot"s voyage to, 14, 15. 

name of, given, iS, 19. 

Spaniards settle in, 20, 21. 

English first settle in, 23, 25, 26. 

independence of, declared, 120, 167. 
Americans, name of, 115. 
Amerigo (A-ma-ree'go), see Vespucci, iS. 
Anarchist (note), 254. 
Apprentice (note), 92. 
Armstrong Jack, 230, 232 ; murder trial, 232. 
Army, the Continental, 118. 
Arnold, iSenedict, 125. 
Atlantic called the " Sea of Darkness," 6. 

crossed by the Northmen (note), 15. 

crossed by Columbus, 8, 9. 

crossed by a Flying-Boat (1919), 296. 
Augustine, St. (Aw'gus-teen'), founded, 20. 
Automobile (Aw-to-mo'bil), invented, 296. 

Bacon's war in Virginia, 34. 

Balboa ( Ral-bo'ah) discovers the Pacific, 20. 

Baltimore founded, 59. 

in the Revolution, 60. 
Baltimore, Lord, in Newfoundland, 55. 

Maryland granted to, 56. 

power of, 57. 

son of, settles Maryland, 57. 

grants religious liberty, 5S, 59. 

is persecuted, 59. 

summary of, 60. 
Barton, Clara, 251. 
Battle, playing at, 188. 
Battle of Alamance (Al'a-mance), 140. 

Alamo (Al'a-mo), 207. 

Braddock's defeat, iii, 112. 

Bunker Hill, 88, 116. 

Burgoyne's defeat, 122. 



Battle of Camden, i8g. 

Concord, 116. 

Cowpens, 124, 188. 

El Caney, 249. 

Fort Moultrie, 123. 

Fort Necessity, no. 

Hadley, 70, 71. 

Hobkirk's Hill, 190. 

Lexington, 1 15. 

Long Island, 120. 

Manila, 245-247. 

New Orleans, 193, 194. 

Princeton, 122. 

San Juan (San Wahn), 249. 

Santiago (San-te-ah'go), 249, 250. 

Saratoga, 122. 

Swamp fight, 72. 

Tippecanoe, 181-183. 

Trenton, 121. 

Vincennes (Vin-senz'), 149. 

Vorktown, 126-128. [War, 263-278. 
Battles of Civil War, 236, 237, 238 ; of Great 
Beans, the sacred, 181, 183. 
Bees, the, and the " Red-Coats," 1S7. 
Bell, Alexander G., inventor, 2S9. 
Berkeley, governor of Virginia, 34. 
Black Hawk War, 231. 
"Blazing" trees, 87. 
Boone, Daniel, birth and boyhood of, 132. 

how he could handle a gun, 133. 

his bear tree, 133. 

goes to Kentucky, 134. 

makes the " Wilderness Road," 135. 

builds a fort, 136. 

his daughter stolen by Indians, 13^'. 

he is captured and adopted by Indians, 

137- 
his escape, 138. 

how he used tobacco dust, 138. 
his old age, 138, 139. 
goes to Missouri, 139. 
Kentucky helps him, 139. 
grave of, 139. 
summary of, 139. 
Boston founded, 53. 



Ill 



IV 



THE BEGINNER'S AMERICAN HISTORY 



Boston, name of, 53. 

" Tea Party," 114. 

port of, closed, 114. 

British driven from, 1 18-120, 150-152. 
Bowie (Bow'e), Colonel, 207. 
Braddock's defeat, iii. 
Bradford, William, caught in trap, 46. 
Bradford, Governor, 46, 50. 

and Canonicus, 50. 
Brewster, Elder, 48. 
British, the name, 115. 
Brookfield burnt by Indians, 70. 
" Brother Jonathan," 221. 

his seven steps, 221. 

origin of name (note), 221. 
Brush (note), 225. 
Burgoyne's defeat, 122. 

Cabot (Cab'ot), John and Sebastian, 14, 15. 

discover continent of America, 15. 

take possession of, for England, 15, 16. 

return to Bristol, 17. 

what they carried back, 17. 

second voyage of, 17. 

how much of America they discovered, 
18. 

summary of, iS. 
California, Captain Sutter in, 213. 

geld discovered in, 214-216. 

effects of discovery of gold, 218. 

acquisition of, 217. 

emigration to, 218. 
Camden, battle of, 189, 190. 
Canal, Erie, opened, 197. 
Canal, Panama (Pan-a-mah'), 257, 263, 264. 
Candidate (note), 235. 
Canonchet (Ka-non'chet), death of, 74. 
Canonicus (Ka-non'i-kus) sends challenge 
to Bradford, 50. 

and Roger Williams, 63, 64. 
Cape Cod, arrival of Pilgrims at, 46. 

explored by Pilgrims, 46. 
Capitol, the, at Washington, burned, 183. 

rebuilt, 183. 
Carolina, North, Governor Tryon in, 140. 

battle of Alamance in, 140. 

the Revolution in, 124, 125, 186. 

South, in the Revolution, 123, 124, 125. 

secedes, 236. 

begins the Civil War, 236. 
Carver chosen governor, 46. 

his kindness to the sick, 48. 

makes treaty with Massasoit, 49. 
Catholics cruelly treated in England, 55. 

colony of, in Newfoundland, 55. 

colony of, in Maryland, 57. 



Catholics give equal religious rights to 
Protestants, 58, 59. 

persecuted in Maryland, 59. 

first English Church of, in America, 
58. 

help George Rogers Clark, 146. 
Cervera (Sur-vee'rah), Admiral, 247, 248, 

250. 
Charles II and Penn, 76, 77. 
Charleston helps Georgia, 86. 

in the Revolution, 123, 124. 
Chicago, rapid growth of, 241. 

Columbian Exposition at, 241. 
Church, Captain Benjamin, 72. 
Church, the first English Protestant, in 
America, 27. 

first English Catholic, in America, 58. 
Civil War, the, 236. 

causes of the, 236, 237. 

battles of the, 237, 238. 

Grant and Lee in the, 238. 

Lincoln in the, 237, 238. 

result of the, 238. 
Clark, George Rogers, birth of (note), 144. 

expedition against Fort Kaskaskia, 
144, 145. 

march against, 145. 

takes the fort, 146. 

is helped by a Catholic priest, 146. 

his march to Vincennes, 147. 

in the " Drowned Lands," 147. 

wading to victory, 147, 148. 

takes Fort Vincennes, 149. 

results of the victory, 149. 

grave of, 149. 

summary of, 150. 
Clearinj (note), 228. 

Coloma(Ko-lo'ma), gold discovered at, 217. 
Colonel (kur'nel) (note), 70. 
Colonies, the thirteen (note), 84. 
Colony (note), 54. 

" Columbus," the " American," 296. 
Columbus, birth and boyhood of, i. 

becomes a sailor, 2. 

has a sea-fight, 2. 

goes to Lisbon, 3. 

his maps of the world, 3. 

plan for reaching Indies, 4. 

goes to Spain for help, 4, 5. 

his reception at the convent, 5. 

leaves his son at the convent, 5, 

gets help for his voyage, 5, 6. 

sails from Palos, 6. 

voyage of, 6, 8. 

discovers land, 8. 

names it San Salvador, 9. 



INDEX 



Columbus names the " West Indies," lo. 

calls the natives Indians, lo. 

discovers large islands, lo, ii. 

returns to Spain, ii. 

his reception in Spain, ii, 12. 

last voyages of, 12. 

sent back to Spain in chains, 13. 

his sorrowful old age, 13. 

his letter to Ferdinand and Isabella, 13. 

death and burial, 13. 

summary of, 14. 

celebration of his discovery of Amer- 
ica, 241. 
Compass, Roger Williams's, 63. 

Smith's use of the, 29. 

Washington's use of the, no. 
Concord (Kon'kurd), battle of, 116. 
Congress, meeting of the first, 115. 

makes Washington commander-in- 
chief, 1 18. 

declares independence, 120. 

meaning of word (note), 115. 

Senate and House of Representatives 
(note), 202. 

votes money for first telegraph lines, 
202. 
Continental Army, the, iiS. 
Convent (note), 4. 

of St. Mary at Palos, 4. 
Cornwallis, Lord, in the Revolution, 121, 
125, 127. 

his pursuit of Washington, 121. 

and Benedict Arnold, 125. 

shuts himself up in Yorktown, 126. 

surrender of, 127. 

news sent to Philadelphia, 128. 

" Cornwallis is taken ! " 128. 
Cotton, how it grows, 159. 

seeds of, 159. 

price of, 160, 161. 

effect of cotton-gin on, 160, 161. 

export of, 162, 163. 

size of bales (note), 162. 
Cotton-gin, invention of, 159, 160. 

effect of the, 160, 161. 
Cowpens, battle of, 124, 188. 
Crockett, David, motto of, 207. 
Cuba, formerly owned by Spain, 242. 

people of, rebel against Spain, 243. 

destruction of the Maine in, 244. 

blockaded by the United States, 245. 

Cervera " bottled up " in Santiago, 248. 

fighting at Santiago, 249. 
Cervera captured at Santiago, 250. 

the Stars and Stripes hoisted at Ha- 
vana, 253. 



Cuba, people of the island accept the 
guardianship of the United States, 

253- 

Declaration of Independence made, 120, 
167. 

written by Jefferson, 167. 

Franklin has part in, loi. 

sent throughout the country, 167. 
De Leon, pronunciation of name (note), 19. 

discovers Florida, ig. 
De Soto, pronunciation of name (note), 19. 

discovers the Mississippi, 20. 
Detroit, Fort, 143. 
Dewey, Admiral, 246, 247. 

his great victory at Manila, 247. 
Discovery, right of (note), 212. 
"Drowned Lands," the, 147. 

Earthquake, great, of 1811, 176, 191. 

Tecumseh predicts an, igi. 
Ebenezer (Eb-e-ne'zer), settlement of, 87. 
Edison, the inventor, 291. 
Electricity, Franklin's experiments in, 98- 

lOI. 

Eliot, Rev. John, 68. 
Elizabeth, Queen, names Virginia, 23. 
Ellsworth, Miss Annie, 202, 203. 
Elm, the treaty, at Philadelphia, 80. 

the Washington, at Cambridge, 118. 
Emigrants (note), 23. 
Exhibition, the Columbian, 241. 

the Pan-American, 254. 

the San Francisco, 263. 
Experiments (note), 98. 
Explorer (note), 2. 

Fable of the Frog and the Ox (note), 226. 

Fairfax estate, 106. 

Fairfax, Lord, and Washington, 106. 

hires Washington to survey land, 106. 

death of, 128. 
Father Gibault (Zhe-bo') (note), 146. 

White, 58, 59. 
Ferdinand and Isabella, 5, 12. 
Flag, first American, 118; (note), 126, 127. 

the English (note), 126, 127. 

torn down at New York, 129. 

United States, origin of (note), 126, 
127. 

carried round the world, 211, 212. 

" Star Spangled Banner," 161 ; (note), 
161. 

of Texas, 207. 

Jasper saves the, of Fort Moultrie, 
123. 



VI 



THE BEGINNER'S AMERICAN HISTORY 



Flag in our island possessions, 252. 

hoisted at Havana, Cuba, 253. 

draped in black for McKinley, 256. 
Flint and steel, 63. 
Florida, discovery of, 19. 

name of (note), 19. 

settlement of, 20, 21. 

Indian war in, 194. 

purchase of, 21, 194. 
Flying-Machine, the, invented, 293. 
Fort, Boone's, 136. 

Detroit, 143. 

Dorchester Heights, 151. 

Indian, 72. 

Jamestown, 26. 

Kaskaskia, 145, 146. 

Manhattan, 41. 

McHenry (note), 161. 

Moultrie, 123. 

Necessity, no. 

Plymouth, 51. 

St. Augustine, 20. 

Sutter's, 213. 

Vincennes, 146-149. 
Fortifications on Dorchester Heights, 151. 

at New Orleans, 193. 
Forts, British, at the west, 143. 

French, at the west, 109. 
Founds (note), 53. 
Fountain, the magic, 19. 
France, the king of, helps us in the Revo- 
lution, 101, 122, 125, 127. 

See French, and Lafayette. 
Franklin, Benjamin, boyhood of, 92. 

works for his father, 92. 

is apprenticed to his brother, 92. 

boards himself, 92. 

is badly treated, 92. 

runs away, 93. 

his walk across New Jersey, 93. 

lands in Philadelphia, 93. 

buys some rolls, 93. 

sees Miss Read, 94. 

goes to a Quaker meeting, 94. 

gets work in a printing office, 95. 

goes to Boston on a visit, 95. 

learns to stoop, 95. 

returns to Philadelphia, 96. 

goes to London, 96. 

called the " Water-American," 96. 

returns to Philadelphia, 96, 97. 

sets up a newspaper, 97. 

his "sawdust pudding," 97. 

his almanac, 91. 

his sayings, 91. 

his plan of life, 97. 



Franklin, Benjamin, what he did for Phila- 
delphia, 89, 98. 

experiments with electricity, 98. 

his electrical picture, 98. 

his electrical kite, 99. 

his discoveries in electricity, 100, loi. 

invents the lightning-rod, 100. 

receives title of Doctor, 100. 

services in the Revolution, loi. 

tliinks we must fight with bows and 
arrows, 118, 119. 

gets help for us from France, loi. 

his funeral, loi. 

counties and towns named for him, 
102. 

summary of, 102. 
French, the, in America, 108. 

tile war with the, 1 10-112. 

the, conquered, 112. 

the, at battle of Yorktown, 127. 

the, in the west, 145, 146, 167-169. 

See France, Lafayette. 
Friends (or Quakers), religion of, 77. 

persecuted in England, 78. 

go to Pennsylvania, 78. 

friendly relations with the Indians, 79, 
81. 

See William Penn. 
Frog, fable of the (note), 226. 
Fulton, Robert, birth and boyhood of, 

172. 173- 
his paddle-wheel scow, 173. 
care of his mother, 173. 
goes to England and France, 173. 
builds iron bridges, 173. 
his diving-boat, 174, 284. 
torpedo experiments in France, 174. 
torpedo experiments in England, 174. 
England's offer of money, 174. 
his reply, 174. 

builds his first steamboat, 175. 
returns to America, 175. 
builds steamboat here, 175. 
trip up the Hudson, 175, 176. 
builds steamboat for the west, 176, 

177- 

his " Big Fire Canoe " on the Missis- 
sippi, 177, 17S. 

what he did for western emigration, 
178. 

his grave, 178. 

summary of, 178. 

Gadsden Purchase, the, 220. 
Gage, General, in Boston, 115, 116. 
his nose, 118. 



INDEX 



VU 



Gage, General, leaves Boston, 119. 
Genoa (Jen'o-ah) (note), i. 
George II and Georgia, 84, 85. 
George III, resolves to tax Americans, 
112, 113. 

sends over taxed tea, 113, 114. 

closes port of Boston, 114. 

hires German soldiers, 117. 

his statue pulled down, 120. 

his character, 144. 
Georgia, name of, 84. 

settlement of, 85. 

Savannah, 85. 

Ebenezer, 87. 

silk raised in, 87. 

keeps out Spaniards, 83. 

in the Revolution, 88. 

sends powder to Bunker Hill, 88. 

summary of, 89. 
Gibault (Zhe-bo'), Father (note), 146. 
Gin, invention of the cotton, 159-161. 
Goethals(Go'thalz), Colonel George W., 258. 
Goffe, Colonel, at Hadley, 71. 
Gold, discovered in California, 214. 

tested by Sutter, 215, 216. 

carried to San Francisco, 218. 

excitement over, 21S. 

effect of discovery of, 218. 
Grant, General, 23S. 
Gray, Captain, voyage to the Pacific, 209. 

his fur trade with the Indians, 210. 

carries American flag around the 
world, 211. 

names the Columbia River, 211. 

helps us to get Oregon, 212. 

summary of, 212. 
Greene, General (Revolution), 124, 158, 

189. 
Greene, Mrs. General, 15S, 159. 
Guam (Gwam), we acquire, 253. 



Henry, Patrick, sends Clark to take Brit- 
ish forts, 145. 
Henry VII, sends Cabot on voyage, 14. 

claims part of North America, 15, 16. 
Hobson, Lieutenant, tries to " bottle up" 

Cervera, 248. 
Holland, gives Pilgrims a refuge, 44, 45. 

takes possession of the country on the 
Hudson, 41. 
"Holy Ground," the Indians', 192. 
Houston (Ilew'stort), Sam, birthplace of 
(note), 205. 

in war with Indians, 205. 

governor of Tennessee, 205. 

goes to live with the Indians, 205. 

goes to Texas, 205, 206. 

fights for Texas, 206, 207. 

is made president of Texas, 207. 

in the Civil War, 208. 

death of, 208. 

summary of, 209. 
Howe, General, driven from Boston, 119. 
Hudson, Henry, first voyage of, 36. 

hired by the Dutch, 37. 

sails for America, 37. 

discovers tlie " Great River," 37. 

what he said about the country, 38. 

voyage up the river, 38, 39. 

is feasted by the Indians, 39. 

what the Indians thought of him, 39. 

has fight with Indians, 40. 

sails for Europe, 40. 

Hudson River is named for him, 40. 

death of, in Hudson Bay, 40. 

what he would think of New York 
now, 42. 

summary of, 42. 
Hudson River, described, 38. 

named, 40. 

Dutch settle on the, 41. 



Hadley, Indian attack on, 70, 71. 

Goffe at, 70, 71. 
Hamilton, Colonel, 143, 147. 
Hanks, John, and Lincoln, 228, 234, 235. 
Harrison, General, birthplace of (note), 
181. 

governor of Indiana territory, 181. 

marches against the Indians, 181. 

gains victory of Tippecanoe, 182, 183. 

beats the British, 183. 

elected President, 184. 

death of, 184. 

summary of, 184. 
Hawaii (Hah-wy'ee) annexed, 220, 252. 
Henry, Patrick, speech of, 166. 



Illinois, Clark's conquest of, 145, 146. 
Independence, see Declaration of Inde- 
pendence. 
Indians, Columbus names the, 10. 

described, 10, ii, 17, 28, 29. 

welcome the English, 22, 39, 48, 64. 

welcome Sam Houston, 205. 

thought the white men came down 
from the sky, 39. 

of Virginia, 28. 

how they lived, 28, 29. 

and Captain Smith, 29, 30, 31. 

Pocahontas saves Smith's life, 30. 

feast Henry Hudson, 39. 

make treaty with Pilgrims, 49. 



Vlll 



THE BEGINNER'S AMERICAN HISTORY 



Indians contribute to the Thanksgiving 

of the Pilgrims, 49. 
help the Pilgrims, 49, 50. 
challenge Pilgrims to fight, 50. 
Standish's fight with the, 51, 52 f. 
help the settlers of Maryland, 58. 
Roger Williams defends rights of, to 

land, 61. 
how they helped Williams, 63. 
how they lost their lands, 67, 155, 179, 

180, 195, 196. 
great war with, in New England, 67-76. 
driven off by a woman, 71. 
Penn defends rights of, to land, 79. 
make treaty with Penn, 80, 81. 
Penn's frolic with the, 81. 
their love for him, 82, 83. 
present his widow with rich furs, 82, 83. 
friendly to the Quakers, 81. 
Washington is present at a war-dance 

of, 108. 
act as guides to Washington, log. 
attempt to murder Washington, 109. 
attack General Braddock, iii. 
and Daniel Boone, 132, 133, 134. 
their tricks and stratagems, 134. 
capture Boone's daughter, 136. 
capture Boone and adopt him, 137, 

138- 
Boone escapes from the, 138. 
in the Revolution, 144. 
war in Ohio, 153-155. 
victory of General Wayne over the, 

155- 
what they called the steamboat, 176. 
forced to move west, 179. 
story of the log, " Move on ! " 179. 
badly treated by the white men, 180. 
the "Prophet's" influence over the, 

180-183. 
his "sacred beans," 181, 183. 
Tictory of Harrison over, 182. 
what Tecumseh told the, igi. 
the, and the earthquake, 191. 
the " Holy Ground " of the, 192. 
victory of Jackson over, 191, 192. 
Captain Gray buys furs from the, 210. 
Sam Houston goes to live with the, 

205. 
General Jackson and Weathersford, 

192. 
"fire-water" hurts the, 180. 
the, and the locomotive whistle, 195, 

196. 
move west of the Mississippi, 196. 
Abraham Lincoln and the, 231. 



Indians. See Black Hawk, Canonchet, 

Canonicus, King Philip, Massasoit, 

Pocahontas, Powhatan, Samoset, 

Squanto, Tecumseh, the " Prophet," 

Wamsutta, Weathersford. 
Indian treaty with Pilgrims, 49. 

with Penn, 80, 81. 
Indian wars, Captain Standish's fight, 51,52. 

King Philip's War, 67. 

in Kentucky, 134, 135, 136. 

at the west, in the Revolution, 144. 

in Ohio, 153-155- 

in Indiana, 179, 182. 

in Alabama, igi, 192, 

in Florida, 194. 

in Illinois, 231. 

Black Hawk War, 231. 
Inventions, American, 159, 174, 175, 198, 
263-264, 271, 273-274, 283-297. 

Jackson, Andrew, boyhood of, 185. 
and the gun, 185. 
and Tarleton, 186. 
his mother, 186, 190. 
his hatred of the British, 186. 
dangers exposed to, 187. 
playing at battle, 187, 188. 
taken prisoner, 188. 
and the boots, 188. 
sees a battle through a knot-hole, 

189, 190. 
death of his mother, 190. 
what he said of her, 190. 
begins to learn a trade, 190. 
studies law, 190. 
goes to Tennessee, 190. 
becomes judge, 190, 191, 
becomes general, 191. 
fights the Indians, 191, 192. 
interview with Weathersford, 192. • 
wins the great battle of New Orleans, 

193, 194- 
conquers Indians in Florida, 194. 
elected President, 194. 
four steps in life of, 195. 
first steam railroad, 195. 
summary of, ig6. 
James I, Jamestown named for, 26. 

denies religious liberty to his subjects, 

44, 53- 
Jamestown settled, 26. 

burned, 34. 
Jasper, Sergeant, how he saved the flag, 

123. 
Jefferson, Thomas, birth of, 164. 
home at Monticello, 164. 



INDEX 



IX 



Jefferson, Thomas, beloved by his slaves, 
165. 

desires to free his slaves, 166. 

hears Patrick Henry speak, 166. 

writes Declaration of Independence, 
167. 

elected President, 167. 

vi-hat he said about New Orleans and 
Louisiana, 167, 168. 

buys Louisiana, 168, 169. 

his death, 170. 

inscription on his tombstone, 170. 

suminary of, 170. 
"Jonathan, Brother," 221. 

his seven steps, 221. 

origin of name (note"), 221. 
Jury (note), 27. 
Jury trial, first in America, 27. 

Kaskaskia (Kas-kas'ki-a), Fort, 143, 145, 

146. 
King Philip, son of Massasoit, 66. 

becomes chief, 66. 

how he dressed and lived, 66. 

his hatred of the whites, 67. 

determines to make war, 67. 

Indians attack Swansea, 68. 

attack other towns, 6g. 

burn Brookfield, 70. 

attack Hadley, 70, 71. 

bravery shown by a woman, 71. 

the great swamp fight, 72. 

Canonchet taken, 74. 

Philip's wife and son taken, 74. 

wife and son sold into slavery, 74. 

Philip shot, 74, 75. 

destruction caused by the war, 75. 

cost of the war, 75. 

Indian power broken, 75. 

summary of, 75. 

Lafayette (Lah-fay-et'), helps us in the 

Revolution, 125. 
pursues Cornwallis, 126. 
at the tomb of Washington, 130. 
Land, rights of Indians to, 61, 79. 
Land acquired from the Indians, 67, 155, 

179, 180, 195, J96. 
Land acquired by the United States, see 

Territory and United States. 
Lee, General, in the Civil War, 238. 
Legislature (note), 234. 
Lexington, battle of, 115. 
Leyden (Li'den) Holland, 44. 
Leyden jar, g8, 99, 100. 
Liberty, religious, in Maryland, 58, 60. 



Liberty, religious, in Rhode Island, 64, 65. 
religious, none formerly in England, 

44. 55. 78- 
Liberty, Sons of, in the Revolution, 41. 
Liberty, statue of, 42. 
Library, the first public, in America, 98. 
Lincoln, Abraham, birth and boyhood of, 
223. 

how he lived, 224, 225. 

death of his mother, 225. 

what he said of her, 225. 

what his step-mother said of him, 225. 

at school, 225, 226. 

teaches himself at home, 226, 227. 

what he read, 226. 

how he used the fire-shovel, 227. 

description of, at seventeen, 227. 

his strength, 227. 

goes to New Orleans, 227, 228. 

drives off a gang of robbers, 228. 

moves to Illinois, 228. 

splits rails, 229. 

hunting frolics, 228, 229. 

tends store at New Salem, 230. 

is attacked by Jack Armstrong, 230. 

he teaches Jack a lesson, 230. 

his faithfulness in little things, 230. 

called " Honest Abe," 230. 

in the Black Hawk War, 231. 

becomes postmaster and surveyor, 231. 

studies law, 231. 

begins to practise law, 231. 

respected by all men, 231, 232. 

in Armstrong murder trial, 232. 

how he saved the pig, 233. 

goes to the legislature, 234. 

goes to Congress, 234. 

chosen candidate for President, 235. 

elected President, 235, 236. 

his election brings on the Civil War, 
236, 237. 

emancipates the slaves, 238. 

murdered by Booth, 238. 

grief of the nation at his death, 238, 

summary of, 238. 
Log, the story of the, 179. 
Louisiana, purchase of, 169. 

original extent of, 169, 170, 171, 172. 

McKinley, President, 242, 245, 246, 254. 

is murdered, 254. 

his funeral, 255, 256. 
Maine, the destruction of the, 244. 
Major (note), log. 
Manhattan Island, 37, 41, 42. 
Manila, battle of, see Battles. 



X 



THE BEGINNER'S AMERICAN HISTORY 



Manila, capital of the Philippines, 246, 

252. 
. General Merritt takes, 251. 
Map of the world before Columbus dis- 
covered America, 2, 3. 
of voyage of Columbus, 9. 
of parts of America discovered by 

Columbus, 12. 
showing where John Cabot lived, 15. 
of John Catwt's landing in America, 

IS- 
of the coast of America discovered by 

the Cabots, 18. 
of first English settlement in Virginia, 

23- 

of Jamestown, Virginia, 27. 

of Henry Hudson's plan for reaching 
Asia, 36. 

of the Hudson River, 38. 

of homes of the Pilgrims in England 
and Holland, 44. 

of first English settlements in Massa- 
chusetts, 46. 

of first settlement of Maryland, 58. 

of Roger Williams's route to Mount 
Hope, 62. 

of first settlement of Rhode Island, 

65- 
of King Philip's War, 68. 
of first settlement of Pennsylvania, 79. 
of first settlement of Georgia, 85. 
of Franklin's journey to Philadelphia, 

93- 

illustrating the early life of Washing- 
ton, facing 106. 

of the northern states in the Revolu- 
tion, facing 1 16. 

of the southern states in the Revolu- 
tion, facing 124. 

of Boone's " Wilderness Road," 136. 

of George Rogers Clark's line of 
march, 144. 

of the battle of Tippecanoe, 179. 

of Sutter's Fort California, 214. 
Maps showing the ten-itorial growth of the 
United States : 

1. The United States at the close of 

the Revolution and in 1801, 168. 

2. The United States after our pur- 

chase of Louisiana in 1803, 169. 

3. The United States after our pur- 

chase of Florida in 1819, 194. 

4. The United States after we added 

Texas in 1845, 208. 

5. The United States after we added 

the Oregon Country in 1846, 211. 



Maps showing the territorial growth of the 
United States: 

6. The United States after we added 

California and New Mexico in 
1848,216. 

7. The United States after the Gads- 

den Purchase in 1853, 219. 

8. The United States after we added 

Alaska in 1867, facing 220. 

9. The United States after we added 

our island possessions in 1898, 
facing 244. 
Marietta, Ohio, settled, 152, 153. 

name of, 153. 

what Washington said of, 153. 

and the Indians, 153, 154. 

summary of, 155. 
Marshall finds gold in California, 214-216, 

his poverty, 218. 
Maryland, name of, 56. 

granted to Lord Baltimore, 56. 

rent of, 56. 

settlement of, 57. 

first Catholic church in America in, 58. 

home of religious liberty, 58. 

trouble with Virginia, 59. 

Catholics of, badly treated, 59. 

Baltimore city founded, 59. 

in the Revolution, 60. 

summary of, 60. 
Massachusetts, name of, 54. 

settlement of, 53, 54. 

in the Revolution, 54. 
Massasoit (Mas-sa-soit'), makes treaty 
with the Pilgrims, 49. 

and Roger Williams, 61, 62, 63. 

death of, 66. 

King Philip, his son, 66. 
Mayflower, voyage of the, 45, 46, 47, 48, 53. 

Ohio boat so named, 152. 
Messages (note), 198. 
Mexico, war with, 217. 

territory obtained from, 217. 
Miami (Mi-am'i), Ohio, 154. 
Mine, the, in Havana harbor, 244. 

(note), 244. 
Mississippi, De Soto discovers the, 20. 

lower part of, belonged to France, 167. 

we get possession of the, 170. 

first steamboat on the, 177, 178. 
Moccasins (note), 119. 
Model (note), 201. 

Monticello (Mon-te-sel'lo), described, 164. 
Morgan's sharpshooters, 124. 
Morse, Samuel F. B., birth and boyhood 
of, 198. 



INDEX 



XI 



Morse, Samuel F. B., becomes a painter, 

198. 

goes to France, 19S. 

thinks of using electricity to send mes- 
sages, 198. 

returns to America, 198. 

invents electric telegraph, ig8, 199. 

his poverty, 200, 201. 

takes the first photograph in America, 
200. 

gets assistance from Mr. Vail, 200, 201. 

obtains patent for the telegraph, 201. 

receives help from Congress, 202. 

and Miss Annie Ellsworth, 202, 203. 

builds line of telegraph, 203. 

the first message sent. 203. 

how a message is sent (.note), 203. 

the first year of telegraphy, 203. 

the ocean telegraph, 203. 

the telephone (note), 202, 204. 
■ summary of, 204. 
Moultrie (Mole'tree), Colonel, 123. • 

Fort, 123. 
Mount Vernon, Washington at, 106, 117, 

129, 130. 
" Move on, won't you ? " 179. 
Moving-Pictures, Edison's, 291. 

Nations (note), 194. 

Negroes (see Slaves) made free, 238. 

New Amsterdam, 41. 

New England, name of, 33, 47. 

first settlements in, 48, 53. 
New Netherland, name of, 41. 

seized by the English, 41. 
New Orleans (New Or'le-anz), 167, 16S. 

cotton exported from, 162. 

purchase of, 169, 170. 

battle of, 193. 
New Salem, Illinois, 230, 231. 
Newspaper, Franklin's, 97, 103 
New York, name of, 41. 
New York City, name, 41. 

in the Revolution, 41, 126, 129. 

the greatest city in America, 42. 

became the capital of the United States 
130. 

Washington made President in, 130. 
North and South in the Civil War, 237. 
Nort^hmen discover America (note), 15. 
North Pole, discovery of the, 262. 
Nurses, the Red Cross, 251, 252. 

Oglethorpe (0 'gel-thorp). General, who 
he was, 84. 
and prisoners for debt, 84, 85. 



Oglethorpe (O'gel-thorp), General, gets 
grant of Georgia, 85. 

object of setthng Georgia, 85. 

builds Savannah, 85, 86. 

welcomes German settlers, 86, 87. 

attempts to produce silk, 87. 

sends silk as present to the queen of 
England, 88. 

keeps out the Spaniards, 88. 

in his old age, 88, 89. 

summary of, 8g. 
Ohio, first settlement in, 152. 

Indian wars in, 153, 154, 155. 
Ohio River, first steamboat on, 176. 
Oregon, how we got our claim to, 212. 

added to the United States, 212, 220. 

Pacific, Balboa discovers the, 20. 

Pacific Railroad completed (note), 241. 

Pacific railroads, the five, 240. 

Palisade, 51. 

Palisades of the Hudson (note), 38. 

Palmetto logs (note), 123. 

Palos (Pa'los), convent at, 4. 

Columbus sails from, 6. 
Panama (Pan-a-mah') Canal, 257,263, 264. 
Pan-American Exposition, 254. 
Parker, Captain, at Lexington, 115. 
Patent (note), 201. 

Penn, William, receives grant of Pennsyl- 
vania, 76. 

belongs to the Society of Friends or 
Quakers, 77. 

his religion, 77. 

sends emigrants to Pennsylvania, 78. 

his conversation with Charles II, 79. 

founds Philadelphia, 79, So. 

his treaty with the Indians, 81. 

his treaty elm protected by a British 
officer, 81. 

visits the Indians, 81. 

beats them at their athletic sports, 81. 

said the people should make their own 
laws, 82. 

goes back to England, 82. 

the victim of a dishonest agent, 82. 

goes to prison for debt, 82. 

death of, 82. 

the Indians present his widow with 
rich furs, 82, 83. 

love of the Indians for him, 82, 83. 

his grave, 83. 

summary of, 83. 
Pennsylvania, named by Charles II, 77. 

granted to William Penn, 76. 

natural wealth of, 77. 



Xll 



THE BEGINNER'S AMERICAN HISTORY 



Pennsylvania in the Revolution, 82, 83. 
Philadelphia, founded, 79, 80. 

name of, 80. 

prosperity of, 81, 82, 89, 98. 

in the Revolution, 82, 83, 114, 115, 122, 
228. 

first Continental Congress meets in, 
82, 83, 114, 115. 

Declaration of Independence, made in, 
. 82, 83. 

what Franklin did for, 98. 

Franklin buried in, loi. 
Philip, King, see King Philip. 
Philippine (Fil'ip-peen) Islands, the, 245, 
246, 251, 252; (note), 253. 

we pay Spain for the (note), 253. 
Phonograph, the, invented, 271, 272. 
Photograph, first, in America, 200. 
Pictures, Moving-, 272-273. 
Pilgrims, the, in Holland, 44. 

name of, 44. 

persecuted in England, 44, 45. 

why they wished to leave Holland, 45. 

sail for America, 45. 

Captain Myles Standish goes with 
them, 45. 

number of the, 45. 

make a compact of government, 46. 

elect John Carver first governor, 46. 

land on Cape Cod, 46. 

wash-day, 46. 

explore the cape, 46. 

land on Plymouth Rock, 47. 

settle in Plymouth, 48. 

why they chose that place, 47. 

name of Plymouth, 47. 

sickness and death, 48. 

meet Indians, 48. 

make treaty with Massasoit, 49. 

their first Thanksgiving, 49. 

Canonicus dares them to fight, 50. 

Governor Bradford's reply, 50. 

build a fort, 51. 

build a palisade around the town, 51. 

fight the Indians at Weymouth, 52. 

what Myles Standish did for the Pil- 
grims, 52, 53. 

summary of, 54. 

See Myles Standish. 
Pioneers (note), 206. 

Pittsburg, 145, 152, 176; and see map, 124. 
Plantation (note), 103. 
Planter (note), 34. 
Plymouth, the Pilgrims settle, 47, 48. 

natural advantages of, 47. 

Dame of, 47. 



Plymouth. See Pilgrims. 
Plymouth Rock, Pilgrims land on, 47. 
Pocahontas (Po-ka-hontas) saves Smith's 
life, 30 ; and see under Smith, in 
List of Books in Appendix. 

marries John Rolfe, 30. 

her descendants, 30. 
Pole, the North, discovered, 262. 
Ponce de Leon, see De Leon. 
Porto Rico, how we got, 250, 252. 
Potato, the, sent to England, 23. 

Raleigh plants it in Ireland, 23. 
Powder, lack of, in Revolution, 116. 

sent to Bunker Hill, 88. 
Powhatan (Pow-ha-tan') and Captain John 

Smith, 30. 
Prison-ships, British, 190. 
"Prophet," the, and Tecumseh, 180-183. 

promises gigantic corn and pump- 
kins, 181. 

his sacred beans, 181, 183. 

at the battle of Tippecanoe, 182. 

Indians say he is a liar, 183. 

Tecumseh takes him by tlie hair, 183. 
Prophet (note), 180. 
Providence, name of, 64. 

settled, 64. 

religious liberty in, 64. 
Pudding, Franklin's sawdust, 97. 
Puritans (note), 44, 53. 

settle Boston, 53. 
Putnam, General Rufus, services in iht 
Revolution, 150-152. 

builds fortifications, 151, 152. 

builds the Mayflower, 152. 

settles Marietta, Ohio, 152, 153. 

summary of, 155. 
Pyramid, the great American, 278. 

Quakers, see Friends. 

Railroad, the first, in America, igs and 

note, 
growth of railroads, 196. 
the, and the Indians, 195, 196. 
first Pacific (note), 241. 
the five Pacific railroads, 240. 
Raleigh (Raw'li), Sir Walter, a favorite of 

Queen Elizabeth, 22. 
sends exploring expedition to America, 

22. 
receives title of honor, 23. 
sends settlers to Virginia, 23. 
receives tobacco and potato plants from 

Virginia, 23. 
plants them in Ireland, 2j. 



INDEX 



xiiS 



Raleigh (Raw'li), Sir Walter, spends a 
great deal of money on his Vir- 
ginia colony, 23. 

fails to establish a settlement, 24. 

last days of, 24. 

is beheaded, 24. 

power of his example, 24. 

summary of, 24. 
Ranches (note), 240. 
Randolph, John, of Virginia, 30. 
Reaper, the, invented, 284-287. 
Rebels (note), 188. 
Red-coats (note), 186. 
Red-coats, the, and the bees, 1S7. 
Red Cross Society, the, 250, 251, 252, 2^9. 
Religious liberty, formerly none in Eng- 
land, 44, 53, 55, 78. 

liberty in Maryland, 58. 

liberty in Rhode Island, 64. 

persecution in England, 44, 45, 53, 

55. '/S. 

persecution of Catholics, 55. 

persecution of Pilgrims, 44, 45. 

persecution of Puritans, 53. 

persecution of Quakers, 78. 
Revere's (Re-veer'), Paul, ride, 115. 
Revolution, the cause of, 112, 113, 166. 

first blood shed in, 115, 116. 

Patrick Henry says, " We must 

fight r-^tb. 

" Sons of Liberty " in the, 41. 

progress of, 1 12-127. 

Declaration of Independence, 120, 167. 

battles of, see Battles. 

British prison-ship of the, igo. 

help given by France and the French 
in the, loi, 122, 125, 127, 146. 

end of the, 126-129. 

See Greene, Lafayette, Clark, Frank- 
lin, Jefferson, Putnam, Wash- 
ington. 

the, in Delaware, 82. 

Georgia, 83. 

Maryland, 60. 

Massachusetts, 54, 114-116, 118, X19, 
150-152. 

New England, 54. 

New Jersey, 82, 121, 122. 

New York, 41, 114, 120, 122, 126, 129. 

North Carolina, 88, 124, 140, 186, 190. 

Pennsylvania, 82, 114, 115, 122, 128. 

Rhode Island, 65. 

South Carolina, 88, 114, 123, 124, 188- 
190. 

Virginia, 35; (note), 114, 124, 125-128, 
14s, 146, 166, 167. 



Revolution in the west, 143-149. 
Rhode Island, settled, 64. 

religious liberty in, 64. 

in the Revolution, 65. 
Robertson, James, birthplace of (note), 
140. 

his home in North Carolina, 140. 

emigrates to Watauga, Tennessee, 141. 

and Sevier, 142. 

what he did for the new settlement, 
142. 

Washington makes him general, 142. 

summary of, 143. 
Rolfe, John, marries Pocahontas, 30. 
Roosevelt, Colonel, 249. 

President, 255. 
" Rough Riders," the, in Cuba, 249. 

Sacramento, Sutter's Fort at, 213. 

Sacred (note), 181. 

St. Louis a hundred years ago, 172. 

St. Mary's, settlement of, 58. 

Salem, Rorer Williams' church at, 60, 61. 

Samoset (Sam'o-set) and the Pilgrims, 48. 

Sampson, Rear-Admiral, 245, 248, 250. 

San Salvador (Sal'va-dor), Columbus 

names, 9. 
Saratoga, battle of, 122. 
Savannah settled, 85. 

in the Revolution, 88. 
" Sawdust pudding," Franklin's, 97. 
Schley, Rear-.Admiral, 245, 248, 250. 
Seal, great, of United States, 378 and note 
Seekonk, Roger Williams at, 63. 
Senate Chamber (note), 202. 
Sergeant (Sar'jent) (note), 123. 
Sevier (Se-veer'), John, born in Virginia; 
(note), 140, 142. 

emigrates to Watauga, Tennessee, 142 

and Robertson, 142. 

what he did for Watauga, 142. 

becomes governor of Tennessee, 143. 

summary of, 143. 
Sewing Machine, the, invented, 287-2S9. 
Sharpshooters in the Revolution, 118, 124 
Silk, attempt to produce, in Georgia, 87. 

sent to England, 88. 

the queen has a dress made of it, 88. 
Silkworm (note), 87. 
Slaves, negro, first brought to Virginia, 

33. 34- 
employed in raising tobacco, 34. 
planters grow rich by, 34. 
all the colonies buy, 34. 
at the Revolution all of the states 

held, 236. 



XIV 



THE BEGINNER'S AMERICAN HISTORY 



Slaves, Washington's, 117. 

Jefferson beloved by his, 165, 166. 

Jefferson's feehng in regard to, 166. 

how employed on cotton, 159. 

and the cotton-gin, 160. 

gradually freed at the North, 236. 

their condition unchanged at the 
South, 236. 

feeling at the South about, 237. 

feeling at the North about, 237. 

question of holding, divides the 
states, 236, 237. 

Lincoln in regard to increasing num- 
ber of, 237. 

and the Civil War, 236, 237. 

freed by President Lincoln, 23S. 

effect of emancipation of, on the 
Union, 238. 
Smith, John, early life and adventures of, 

25- 

sold as a slave, 25. 

starts for Virginia, 26. 

arrested on the voyage on a false 

charge, 26. 
is tried and acquitted, 27. 
court grants him damages, 27. 
what he hoped to do in Virginia, 

26, 27. 
what he did for the sick, 27. 
prevents desertion, 28. 
goes in search of the Pacific, 29. 
is captured by Indians, 29. 
how he used his pocket compass, 29. 
brought before Powhatan, 30. 
Pocahontas saves his life, 30. 
made governor of Jamestown, 31. 
his opinion of the gold-diggers, 31. 
compels Indians to let settlers have 

corn, 31. 
makes all the settlers work, 31, 32. 
his cold-water cure for swearing, 32. 
meets with a terrible accident, 32. 
goes back to England, 32. 
returns and explores country north of 

Virginia, 32, 33. 
names it New England, 33. 
death and burial of, 33. 
what he did for Virginia, 33. 
his books and maps, 33. 
is called the " Father of Virginia," 

. ^^" 
writes Captain Henry Hudson, 37. 

summary of, 35. 
" Sons of Liberty" in the Revolution, 41. 
South, the, in the Civil War, 237, 238. 

great progress of, since the war, 240. 



Spain, great possessions once held by, in 
America, 242. 
the war with, 241-254. 
peace made with, 251. 
we pay ^20,000, 000 to, for the Philip- 
pines (note), 253. 
Spaniards settle Florida, 20. 

are kept out of Georgia, 88. 
Squanto (Skwon'to) and the Pilgrims, 48, 

49. 5°- 
Squaws (note), 137. 

Standish, Myles, an English soldier in 
Holland, 45. 

goes to America with the Pilgrims, 45. 

explores Cape Cod, 46. 

lands at Plymouth Rock, 47. 

was nurse as well as soldier, 48. 

goes to meet Massasoit, 49. 

escorts the Pilgrims to church, 51. 

has a fight with the Indians, 51, 52. 

saves Plymouth from attack by In- 
dians, 52. 

what else he did for the Pilgrims, 53. 

what he left at his death, 53. 

his monument, 53. 

summary of, 54. 
Star-Spangled Banner, song of the, 161 

and note. 
Steamboat, Fulton's, on the Hudson, 175. 

first at the west, 176-178. 

effect of, on emigration, 178. 
" Stoop ! stoop ! " Franklin learns its 

meaning, 95. 
Story of Pocahontas, 30. 

"Com, or your life ! " 31. 

Smith's cold-water cure, 32. 

Colonel Goffe, 71. 

the woman and the Indians, 71. 

" Stoop ! stoop ! " 95. 

Franklin's "sawdust pudding," 97. 

Franklin's electrical picture, 98. 

Franklin's kite, gg. 

Washington and the colt, 104. 

Continental sharpshooters, 118. 

General Gage's nose, 118. 

how the British marched out of York- 
town, 127, 128. 

" Comwallis is taken ! " 128. 

Indian tricks, 134. 

Boone's escape from the Indians, 138. 

Clark takes Kaskaskia, 145. 

Clark wading to victory, 147. 

Eli Whitney's fiddle, 157. 

the Star-Spangled Banner (note), 161. 

Jefferson and his slaves, 165. 

Fulton's paddle-wheel boat, 173. 



INDEX 



XV 



Story of Fulton's diving-boat, 174. 

tlie negro and the steamboat on the 
Mississippi, 177. 

" Move on, won't you ? " 179. 

ihe " Prophet's " corn and pumpkins, 
iSi. 

his "sacred beans," iSi, 183. 

Jackson and the gun, 185. 

the bees and the "red-coats," 187. 

playing at battle, iSS. 

"clean those boots," iSS. 

seeing a battle through a knot-hole, i8g. 

Tecumseh's earthquake, igi. 

Morse's telegraph, 157-199. 

Morse and Annie Ellsworth, 202, 203. 

Marshall finds gold, 214-216, 218. 

Lincoln's fire-shovel, 226. 

" Honest Abe," 230. 

the Armstrong murder trial, 232. 

Lincoln and the pig, 233. 

the frog and the ox (note), 226. 

Hobson and Cervera, 248. 
Submarine, the, invented, 174, 284. 
Survey (note), 106. 

Suttel (Sut'er), John A., his fort in Cali- 
fornia, 213. 

founds Sacramento, 213. 

lives like a king, 213. 

begins to build saw-mill at Coloma, 
214. 

Marshall finds some gold-dust, 214. 

Marshall brings him gold-dust to test, 

215- 
is convinced that gold has been found, 

216. 
how he felt at the discovery, 216. 
loses his property, 218. 
is pensioned by California, 218. 
summary of, 221. 
Swansea (Swon'ze), Indians attack, 68. 
Swordfish (note), 174. 

Taft, William H., 262. 

" Tanks " in the Great War, 274-275. 

Tarlcton (Tarl'tnn), cruelty of, 1S6, 187. 

his soldiers and the bees, 187. 

is beaten at Cowpens, iSS. 

what he hears from the children, 1S8. 
Taxation of America by George III, 112. 

chief cause of the Revolution, 1 12, 1 13. 
Tea, taxed, sent to America, 113. 

destruction of, 114. 

"Boston tea-party," 114. 
Tecumseh (Te-kum'seh) excites the 
Indians to war, 180. 

takes the " Prophet "by the hair, 183. 



Tecumseh (Te-kum'seh) fights for the Brit- 
ish in Canada, 183. 

is killed, 1S3. 
Telegraph, meaning of the word (note), 
198. 

what it is, 198, igg, 203. 

electric, invented by Morse, 198-200. 

Vail's work on, 200, 201. 

patented by Morse, 201. 

Congress grants money to build line, 
201, 202. 

first message over, 203. 

business of, in 1S45, 203. 

business of, to-day, 203. 

how messages are sent by (note), 203. 

Atlantic, 203. 

See Morse, Samuel F. B. 
Telephone, meaning of the word (note), 
202. 

what it is, 204. 

when invented (note), 202, 289. 

use of, to-day, 204, 290. 
Tennessee, first settlement of, 141, 142. 

Houston in, 205. 

See James Robertson, John Sevier. 
Terrier (note), 183. 

Territory added to the United States 
during the Revolution, 149. 

Louisiana (1803), 169, 219. 

P'lorida (1819), 220. 

Texas (1845), 207, 220. 

Oregon (1846), 212, 220. 

California (1848), 217, 220. 

New Mexico (1848), 220. 

Gadsden Purchase (1853), 220. 

Alaska (1867), 219, 220. 

Hawaii (1898), 220, 252. 

Porto Rico (1899), 252. 

Guam (1899), 253. 

Philippines (1899), 252. 

maps showing acquisition of territory 
by the United States, see Maps. 

summary of (" Brother Jonathan's " 
seven steps), 221. 

See United States, Maps. 
Tests (note), 216. 
Texas, forms part of Mexico, 206. 

we try to buy it, 206. 

Houston goes to, 205, 206. 

massacre of Americans at Fort Alamo, 
207. 

war of independence, 207. 

flag of, 207. 

annexed, 207. 

dispute with Mexico about boundary, 
217. 



XVI 



THE BEGINNER'S AMERICAN HISTORY 



Texas, Mexican war and, 217. 

and the Civil War, 208. 

summary of, 2og. 
Tlianksgiving, the first in America, 49. 
Tippecanoe, battle of, 181, 182. 
" Tippecanoe! and Tyler too ! " (note), 184. 
Tobacco sent from Virginia to Sir Walter 
Raleigh, 23. 

Raleigh plants it in Ireland, 23. 

value of, to Virginia, 34. 
Torpedo (note), 174, 284. 

Fulton's experiments with torpedoes, 
174. 
Tow cloth (note), 229. 
Travis (Tra'vis), Colonel, in Texas, 206. 
Treaty, Indian, with Pilgrims, 49. 

with William Penn, 81. 

of peace with Spain, 251. 
"Treaty Elm," at Philadelphia (note), 80. 
Trumbull, Governor (" Brother Jona- 
than ") and General Washington, 
221. 
Tryon, Governor, in North Carolina, 140. 

oppression by, 140, i.)i. 

the " Great Wolf of Carolina," 140. 

at battle of Alamance, 140. 
Typewriter, the, invented, 296. 

Union (note), 236. 

the South resolves to withdraw from 

the, 236. 
strengthened by results of the Civil 

War, 238, 239. 
United States, independence of, declared, 

120, 167. 
War of the Revolution, see Revolution, 
more perfect union formed (note), 236. 
extent of, at the close of the Revolu- 
tion, 219. 
acquires Louisiana (1803), i6g, 170,219. 
acquires Florida (1819), 194, 220. 
acquires Texas (1845), 207, 220. 
acquires Oregon (1846), 212, 220. 
acquires California and New Mexico 

(1848), 217, 220. 
acquires Gadsden Purchase (1853), 218, 

220. 
acquires Alaska (1867), 219, 220. 
acquires Guam, 253. 
acquires Hawaii, 220, 252. 
acquires Porto Rico, 252. 
acquires the Philippines, 252 and 

(note), 253. 
extent of, to-day, 221. 
"Brother Jonathan's" seven steps, 

221. 



United States, maps showing acquisition 
of territory, see Maps. 
War of 1812, 161, 193. 
war of, with Mexico, 207, 217. 
the Civil War, 236-239. 
growth since the Civil War, 252, 253. 
and Columbian Exhibition, 241. 
war with Spain, 243-253. 
Pan-American Exhibition, 254. 
and the Great War, 263. 
and " Victory Day," 276. 
great seal of, 2 78. 
what we can do for, 279. 

Vail, Alfred, and Morse's telegraph, 200. 
Venison (note), 22. 

Vespucci, Amerigo (A-ma-ree'go Ves-poot'- 
chee), 18, 19; and " America," 18. 
"Victory Day" (November n, 1918), 276. 
Vigo (Vee'go) helps Clark, 146, 147. 
Vincennes (Vin-senz'), Fort, 147-149. 
Virginia, Raleigh's expedition to, 22. 

named by Elizabeth, 23. 

first settlement in, 23. 

first English child in America born in, 

23- 
failure of first settlement, 23, 24. 
tobacco and potatoes sent from, 23. 
permanently settled at Jamestown, 

26. 
first English church in, 27. 
first jury trial in, 27. 
Captain Smith made governor of , 31. 
Smith's books about, 33. 
slaves sent to, 33, 34. 
tobacco, cultivation of, 34. 
prosperity of, 34. 
Berkeley and Bacon's war in, 34. 
Jamestown burned, 34. 
growth of, 34. 
makes ready to fight for its rights 

(note), 114. 
first demands the independence of 

America, 35. 
in the Revolution, see Revolution, 
owned extensive western possessions, 

144. 
George Washington and, 35. 
the " Mother of Presidents," 35. 
in the Civil Wa*-, 238. 
summary of, 35. 
See John Smith, George Washington, 

Thomas Jefferson, George Rogers 

Clark. 
Virginia Dare, birth of, 23, 
Voted (note), 202. 



INDEX 



XVU 



Wamsutta, death of, 66. 
War, Bacon's, in Virginia, 34. 

King Philip's, in New England, 68. 
of the Revolution, see Revolution, 
with the British in the west, 143- 

150. 
with Indians in the west, 144. 
with Indians in Ohio, i53-'55- 
with Indians in Indiana, 1S1-183. 
with Indi.ins in Illinois, 231. 
the Black Hawk, 231. 
with Indians in Alabama, 191, iq2. 
with Indians in Florida, 194. 
of 1812, 161 and note, 183, 193. 
cause of, of 1812, 183. 
of Texan independence, 206, 207. 
with Mexico, 207, 217. 
cause of Mexican, 217. 
the Civil, 236-239. 
cause of the Civil, 236, 237. 
with Spain, 241-254. 
cause of Spanish, 242-244. 
the Great (1914-1918J, 263-27S. 
Washington, George, birth and boyhood 

of, 103-105. 
at school, 104. 
playing at war, 104. 
battle with the colt, 104, 105. 
what he owed to his mother, 103. 
visits Mount Vernon, 106. 
makes acquaintance of Lord Fairfax, 

106. 
surveys Lord Fairfax's land, 106-108. 
life in the woods, 106-108. 
sees an Indian war-dance, 108. 
is made public surveyor, 108. 
appearance of, at twenty-one, 108. 
receives title of major, log. 
governor of Virginia sends him to 

order off the French, log. 
journey through the wilderness, 109, 

no. 
narrow escape of, log, no, 112. 
receives title of colonel, no. 
goes with Braddock's expedition, in. 
tries to hold Fort Necessity, no. 
goes to Mount Vernon to live, 117. 
his slaves, 117. 
fasts when the king closes the port 

of Boston (note), 114. 
made commander-in-chief in the Rev- 
olution, 118. 
takes command of the Continental 

Army, 118. 
raises first American Hag, 118, 

(note), 126. 



Washington, George, drives British from 
Boston, ng, 120, 150, 151, 152. 

goes to New York, 120. 

chased by Comwallis, 121. 
■ retreats across the Delaware, 121. 

victory of Trenton, 121. 

victory of Princeton, 122. 

at Valley Forge, 122. 

enters Philadelphia, 122. 

marches against Yorktown, 126. 

takes Yorktown, 127, 128. 

his coat of arms (note), 126. 

goes back to Mount Vernon, 129. 

elected President, 130. 

takes oath of office, 130. 

Lafayette visits his tomb, 130. 

summary of, 130, 131. 
Washington, Lawrence, at Mount Vernon, 
106. 

death of, 117. 

Colonel William, 188 and note. 
Washington, the Capitol at, burned, 183. 

rebuilt, 183. 
Watauga (Wa-taw'ga), settlement of, 141, 

142. 
Wayne, General, in Ohio, 155. 
Weathersford and General Jackson, 192. 
West, the, in the Revolution, 143. 

conquest of the, 143-149. 

French in the southwest, 167-169. 

at treaty of peace with England, 149. 

settlement of, 135, 136, 139, 141, 142, 

143. 144. 152, 155. 171. '72. 178, 
179, i8o, 190, 195, 196, 205, 206, 
218, 223, 228, 240, 241. 

acquisition of country west of the Miss- 
issippi, see United States, and see 
Territory and Maps. 

once called the " Wilderness," 135, 

143- 

the, a hundred years ago, 172. 

emigration to the, in early times, 172. 

effects of steamboat navigation on, 
176-178. 

effects of railroads on, 195, 196. 

rapid growth of, 240, 241. 

See Boone, Clark, Putnam, Robert- 
son, Sevier, Jefferson, Houston, 
Gray, Sutter, Fulton, Lincoln. 
West Indies, Columbus discovers and 

names the, 10. 
Weymouth, Standish fights Indians at, 

51. 52- 
What Cheer Rock, Providence, 64. 
White, Father, in Man,'land, 58, 59. 
Whitney, Eli, birth and boyhood of, 156. 



XVIU 



THE BEGINNER'S AMERICAN HISTORY 



Whitney, Eli, cuts his name on a door, 
.56. 

makes a fiddle, 157. 

makes nails, 157. 

goes to Yale College, 157. 

his skill with tools, 157. 

goes to Georgia, 157, 158. 

stops with Mrs. General Greene, 158. 

makes her an embroidery frame, 158. 

has a talk about cotton and cotton 
seeds, 159. 

invents the cotton-gin, 159-161. 

effect of his invention, 161, 163. 

builds a gun-factory, 161. 

makes muskets for War of 1S12, 161. 

summary of, 162. 
Wilderness, the great, 143. 
" Wilderness Road," Boone makes the, 

135- 
Williams, Roger, comes to Boston, 60. 
preaches in Salem and Plymouth, 60. 
is very friendly to the Indians, 60, 61. 
declares that they own the land, 61. 
Boston authorities attempt to arrest, 
62. 



Williams, Roger, escapes and goes to 
Massasoit, 62, 63. 

journey through wilderness, 62, 63. 

reception by Massasoit, 63. 

builds a cabin at Seekonk, 63. 

leaves Seekonk, 63, 64. 

greeted by the Indians, 64. 

Canonicus lets him have land, 64. 

settles Providence, 64. 

grants religious liberty to all settlers, 64. 

summary of, 65. 
Wilson, Woodrow, 263, 266, 267. 
Winthrop, Governor John, settles Boston, 

53- 
Woman drives off Indians, 71. 
Women, services of, in the war with Spain, 

251, 252. 
in the Great War, 269-270. 
Wool-comber (note), i. 
World, knowledge of, before Columbus, 3. 
Wright brothers, inventors of Airships, 293. 

Vorktown taken, 127. 

news of its capture sent to Philadel- 
phia, 128. 



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